The conference is now being recorded.
Good morning, and welcome to Catena Fastigheter's Q2 results. Throughout the call, all participants will be on listen only mode. At the end of the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you have any questions, please press zero-one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero-two. Today, I am pleased to present CEO Jörgen Eriksson, CFO Sofie Bennsten, and CTO David Silvesjö. Speakers, please begin.
Hi, everyone, and welcome to Catena's presentation for Q2. Please next slide. In today's presentation, we will start off by giving a short summary of the latest quarters, followed by an overview of our current customer base and property portfolio. We will then proceed to the business update, where we will touch upon our current growth plan. Sofie and David will then walk through the numbers in the financial update, and we will then open up for the Q&A. Next slide, please. I'm happy to report continued growth for the first six months in 2022, where we are registering higher rental income driven by projects, acquisitions, and as well as seeing high demand for our projects and properties.
The demand is showcased by us starting during the quarter, the next phase for Logistics Position Landvetter, resulting in a time of six months, filling a 210,000 square meters land area. Truly excellent work by the organization and really showcase the demand for our projects. We also made a number of transactions during the quarter, selling all the properties in non-strategic areas and acquiring new, modern, and sustainable properties in prime locations, adding to, for instance, our presence in Denmark. By the end of the quarter, we announced one of our most exciting projects to date in Jönköping. We will build an 86,000 square meters facility for the leading home electronics retailer giant, Elgiganten. The project will be one of the largest in the Nordics and also aim to be the first logistics facility certified by WELL.
I will come back to this later in the presentation. Next slide, please. Here I will give a short overview of the current property portfolio and customer base. Next slide, please. During the quarter, we conducted a number of transactions resulting in 125 properties in the portfolio. We are increasing our presence in Denmark, and we have signed two new acquisitions of a total of 64,000 square meters in this quarter. Furthermore, we continue to be highly efficient in our property management, which is showcased by the higher surplus ratio. All in all, we continue our growth journey by adding great properties and building a sector-leading property portfolio within logistics in our markets. Next slide. Taking a look at our customer base, during the quarter, we added the properties from Halmslätten Fastighets AB.
This resulted in the tenant Martin & Servera becoming one of our biggest customers and increasing food and beverage to 23% in terms of segment exposure. All in all, we are happy with our customer base and continue to support them in their growth journey going forward. Next slide, please. The business update, we will take a look at our initiative for future growth. This involves projects, acquisitions, and divestments, letting operations and sustainability, as well as taking a look at the current market trends. Next slide, please. During the quarter, we announced two important additions to our current development pipeline. Starting off, we announced to pre-let the second phase of Logistics Position Landvetter. MM Sports, a leading retailer, will lease 8,700 square meters of the second building, which will total 42,000 square meters.
The remaining space will be built on speculation since we see great demand and are confident to lease to remaining square meters in the near term. Second addition is Jönköping, which I will go into more details in the next slide. With regards to current development within construction prices, we are seeing an effect on the yield on cost, but due to our low cost for land and long-term experience with construction, we will still have a favorable yield on cost together with considerable margin of safety. Next slide, please. Coming back to Elgiganten and Jönköping. During the quarter, we announced the biggest project to date for the leading home electronic retailer, Elgiganten. We will build a 86,600 square meter facility in Jönköping on the property Hyltena 1: 98.
The facility is directly opposite to Elgiganten's current facility in Jönköping with a direct connection to the E4 highway, an excellent logistic position. The investment from Catena will be SEK 830 million, and Elgiganten have signed a 20-year lease agreement. The deciding factor for Elgiganten was the excellent logistic position, Catena's long-term customer work, and our sustainability agenda. The building will be groundbreaking since it will be one of the first Swedish logistic facilities to aim for a WELL certification, an international standard with regards to social sustainability, where the well-being of those working in the building will be in the focus. Besides WELL, the facility will have the opportunity for one of the largest solar panel installations in Sweden. We will certify it in accordance with BREEAM Excellent, and new initiatives for biodiversity will be put in place.
Groundwork will start soon, and we expect the building to be ready for Elgiganten in 2024. By the way, Elgiganten today press release that they have had a very strong year financially wise, and they have a huge growth. We are looking forward to have a very long cooperation and partnership with Elgiganten many years to come. Next slide, please. As showcased in this slide, our land bank of approximately five million square meters has over the years been a great enabler of value creation and a key element for us maintaining a leadership position within the logistics segment. Currently, we are progressing through the zoning processes with multiple prime land lots, many of them close to key logistical hubs. We are looking forward to report on them as we make progress ahead. Next slide, please.
We are moving rapidly and executing in a high pace. In fact, since Q4 2021, the majority of our near-term pipeline is starting constructing and is prelet. This demonstrates the great skill we have in the organization and the great opportunities we have through our long-term relationship dealing with the customers. Regarding the remaining pipeline, I'm hopeful that we in the near term will announce more prelets and construction starts. Next slide, please. Taking a look at our acquisitions and divestments, we are continuing with our strategy to optimize our portfolio, increasing the share of modern and sustainable properties in great logistics locations and divest non-strategic assets. During the quarter, we took over the properties we acquired from Halmslätten. The properties are modern, sustainable, and great logistics position with a great customer in Martin & Servera.
At the same time, we divested a number of non-strategic assets, many times older properties in non-prime locations. Example of this is the divestment of Fröträdet 1 in Växjö. The facility was built in the 1980s and lettable space is 68,000 square meters. We saw limited potential for further developments, and Växjö is not a prime location for us. We are happy with the latest transactions, and we'll act upon further opportunities in the market, both when it comes to divestments and acquisitions. Next slide, please. Looking at our leasing operations, we continue to register a strong net letting. The WAULT continues to increase slightly due to stronger customer interest for longer leases. Our letting ratio continues to be high, standing at 96%, reflecting the strength in market for our segments. Next slide, please.
On this slide, I would like to discuss the long-term factors affecting our segments and interesting trends spotted in our this industry. On the customer side, I would like to point out the growing segment of cold storage facilities. Long-term trends such as higher interest for fresh food and buying groceries online has driven the demand over many years. However, the vulnerability of the cold chain was showcased during the lockdowns in 2020 when, for instance, Lineage Logistics, the world's largest temperature-controlled logistics provider, said that more than 90% of its cold storage facilities in Europe were full. This was a wake-up call for many actors and has driven an increased demand. Another aspect which is growing in importance for cold storage players is the energy efficiency and the decrease of GHG emissions.
Many cold storage facilities are older and consume a lot of energy due to the high energy requirements of freezing. Therefore, it's important for companies to find modern and sustainable properties in order to address rising energy costs and high emissions. I have today a growing number of cold storage facilities, including newly built and upcoming projects such as the facility we are building for Bring in Landvetter. With all this in mind, we see a great potential for us going forward within this segment. Regarding the overall logistics market in Sweden, we continue to see low vacancy rates and increasing international interest and competition for properties and land lots. With higher construction prices, scarcity of land in prime locations together with historical low rent levels, it leaves room for a positive rent development going forward.
With the next slide, I would like to hand over to Sofie, who will walk through our work in sustainability and together with David, the financial update. Over to you, Sofie.
Thank you very much, Jörgen. As mentioned, we announced a project in Jönköping for Elgiganten. Here, we will aim for the WELL certification, which is an international standard which measures factors affecting human health in properties. These factors can include such as thermal comfort, materials, and overall well-being. Catena will, with this process, break new ground within social sustainability in logistics properties, where the well-being of those working in our facilities will be at the center. Furthermore, we continue building energy efficient and sustainable facilities by certifying them in the BREEAM certification process. We aim for excellent grades of this project as well as we will work with biodiversity and solar energy. Going to slide 17 for financial updates, and further on to slide 18.
Our income from the period was driven primarily by our main acquisitions, completed projects, and indexation driven by our CPI-linked rent agreements. Rental income for the half year amounted to SEK 760 million, compared to SEK 673 million during 2021. This also increased our net operating surplus with 12% to SEK 605 million. Property costs per square meter amounted to SEK 155, compared to SEK 135. This increase is driven mainly by higher electric prices, which in turn is re-invoiced to our tenants. Our profit from property management rose with 19% to SEK 474 million, compared to SEK 399 million in 2021.
Up to this point, lower financial costs driven by our financing mix, stronger credit profile, investment grade rating, together with higher rental income is the main reasons for the increase. Going to slide 19. Rental development for the quarter continued as previous quarter, with a strong like-for-like driven mainly by indexation and also some vacancies being let. Acquisitions had a bigger impact this quarter as we added the properties from Halmslätten. Divestments decreased rental income by 1%. Those properties are, as Jörgen mentioned, non-strategic assets where we see low potential for further development. As mentioned, we have a favorable position with regards to conversion of higher CPI to rent increase. Approximately 90% of our rent agreements are linked to the CPI and at sustained higher inflation leads to higher rental income.
Now, I would like to hand over to David, who will talk you through some of our financial standing.
Thank you, Sofie, and good morning to everyone. While we continue our disciplined approach on refining our portfolio along with project developments, we are keen to keep a sound financial position with ample headroom to financial covenants and targets. Given unprecedented market turmoil on the back of the Russo-Ukrainian War and consequences from the pandemic, still with uncertainty whether it's over or not, we are positive we can mitigate the risk with a disciplined enough credit profile. On balance day, our loan to value was reported at 36%, whereas secured loan to value was 30% with an interest cover of 5.3 x. The capital structure was strong with reported equity ratio of 50%. With market interest rates on the rise, we expect higher cost of debt going forward.
However, with 65% of interest rate hedge, along with average interest maturity of 3.1 years, this impact is partly mitigated. Over this timeframe of uncertainty of where interest equilibrium will end up, inflation will have a positive and compounded effect on our rental value, as Sofie pointed out earlier. During the quarter, we have extended our debt maturity to 3.5 years on average due to pre-settled refinancing that was due to expire in August, with only a minor concession to where prices was one year ago. Given market circumstances, our unique position offers leeway to take advantage of future opportunities. Next slide, please. On balance day, close to 60% of our loan portfolio comprises bank credit facilities. Due to our long-standing relationships together with our strong track record, I feel great comfort about the support they offer.
At the same time, we have to be agile about swift changes impacting the financial markets. With bond markets currently under heavy distress, funding options have swiftly become scarcer and alternative sources of funding are growing in demand. Our situation is that over the next 18 months, only about SEK 750 million of capital market debt is about to mature, including commercial paper. Through a strong cash position along with unutilized and confirmed credit facilities in the amount of SEK 3.5 billion, in combination with the resilient cash flow from operations, we feel comfortable we can handle upcoming financing in combination with deploying capital to our development pipeline. Next slide, please, and back to you, Sofie.
Thank you very much, and we're now at slide 22. Thank you, David. Looking at our capital deployment, acquisitions increased significantly in the second quarter due to a Halmslätten acquisition, which total SEK 1.5 billion. Divestment for the period amounted to SEK 507 million, and current development CapEx amounts to SEK 912 million. As mentioned by David and Jörgen, we're comfortable with our financial position, which allow us to continue to net invest in great projects and acquisitions. Going to next slide number 23. For the period, we have added SEK 2.8 billion as a result of net acquisitions and development CapEx. Our EPRA net initial yield came to 4.7%, and we have a current value of our properties of almost SEK 27 billion. Now we're going to slide 24, and some takeaway comments from Jörgen.
Yes. Thank you, Sofie and David. Moving to slide 25. Our four big takeaways from today, we have a great opportunity to grow in combination with a very strong financial position. We have during 2022 presented major projects in Gothenburg and Jönköping. In the Jönköping project, we will break new ground within the ESG. We have also recycled the portfolio through divestments of less strategic properties and acquisitions in Denmark. By that, over to slide 26, and we open for a Q&A.
Thank you. If you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero two to cancel. There will be a brief pause while questions are being registered. The first questions comes from Markus Henriksson at ABG. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Thank you. Hello, everyone. A few questions here. Could you start off by helping us to split up the value changes in the quarter? Approximately how much of that stems from projects, cash flow, and yield adjustments?
For the most part, over 60% are from increases in projects and rents. There are a smaller part of this quarter that is due to the yields.
Okay, thank you for that. Could you give us an update regarding the joint venture Foodhills Fastighet, how it's going with the HelloFresh development, and how it's going for the old Findus properties?
Yeah, we are now finalizing the project with HelloFresh. There has been many other projects. It's challenging with the supply of the materials, but we aim to finalize it in the month of October, when HelloFresh will move in. The letting job is an ongoing process in the old facilities, but we are positive regarding the joint venture. For next year, 2023, we will definitely show positive digits in our report.
Thank you. Just to follow up on that, so the earnings capacity here now, of course does not include any of that. We should view the HelloFresh as October, and then hopefully some leasing out into the other old properties next year.
Yeah.
Thank you for that. Small one on the two separate deals you've done in Denmark, one in April and one in late June. Were these two deals part of one package deal?
No. It was two separate. The seller and the tenant have seen a record very strong demand. They thought that they should, from the first deal, they could move from an older facility to this new, but they had a very strong sales and a strong year. They found out that they need more spaces, and that's the case in Denmark at the moment. The vacancy rates are very low and the demand for new facilities are very strong. We agreed on another deal.
Thank you. Could you elaborate a bit how the thoughts went regarding that it was similar net initial yields versus if we look at interest rate expectations early April versus late June? Quite a big difference.
Yeah. Of course, there is a difference. We have also had some negotiations about the deferred tax. We haven't seen the spreads in Denmark are not that wide as they are in Sweden at the moment. Maybe we come back to that with more questions for David. That's the case.
Fair enough. Thank you. One more for me. How do you view the Panattoni land acquisition here from Kilenkrysset? Do you see risk that development pipeline in Stockholm that we might see oversupply in a few years' time, or how do you view that increased competition?
No, I think we welcome Panattoni. We have seen the amount that they have invested in the land. That is on the positive side for us. There is a great value in our land bank, definitely. The conclusion is also that they will offer to the market not low rent levels. It means high rent levels, and we will be there as a competitor. Our bet is that in the long run there will be a great demand for a lot of logistic facilities. No worries about that. We welcome competition.
Thank you for that. Those were my questions.
Thank you. The next question comes from Paul May at Barclays. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi team. Thanks for the presentation. Just got two or three questions from me. I'll do one at a time. What are you seeing currently in market rental growth? If you were to lease assets today relative to a year ago, are we still seeing strong levels of rental growth in the market? We're hearing from others sort of low to mid double-digit rental growth year on year. Just wanted to check what your experience is on that.
For the first time, we have seen there is still no impact in our reports, but we have renegotiate some lease agreements where we see rental uplifts without mention any digits. We feel very confident about the future. We have also, as Sofie said, we have had some value uplift in our property due to new rents that will kick in next year. I mean, in total for our rental income, it's just small impact, but it's a very important signal for us that for the first time, we are not happy with just continuing the lease agreement. We want to have some updates as well.
Also, I think. Sorry, Paul.
Yeah.
I think we can mention also that, in terms of the inflation, we expect it to be sustainable, inflation going forward. There should be enough leeway for our customers to pay high rents in terms of inflation also going forward. That means we don't expect rents to go down, based on the fact that even if inflation should be 5% over the next two or even three years, that's a sustainable development from our perspective.
Yeah. You're seeing market rental growth basically matching or in excess of inflation levels that we're seeing in the market at the moment?
Yes.
Great stuff. Just wondered what you're seeing with regards to, obviously, financing costs have increased. We've heard from others in the logistics market that that has had an impact on yields that investors or, you know, buyers are prepared to pay. That's being offset by strong rental growth. We're seeing valuations still going up, but we are seeing yields softening. Is that your experience at the moment? If you were looking to buy things today relative to even three months ago, would you expect to be able to pay a higher yield for that? Or are you still seeing strong competition on the acquisition side and on the disposal side, should we say as well?
Maybe the competition is not that strong as it was five months, six months ago, but still there is a lot of interest for logistics in Sweden. We haven't seen any transactions with the yield went public the last months. Here we saw an off-market in Denmark where Starwood acquired from, I don't know who it is, but PATRIZIA, I think it was. There was no public yields, but we consider it was regarding 4.2 or something like 4.3 maybe. So it's pretty much the same. Of course, in theory, should be a bit higher yields when the financial costs are arising all the time. We'll see after the summer.
Just sort of two last ones, I suppose, on that financing cost. Obviously, your weighted average cost at 2.3, I think up 30 basis points, so far year to date. If you know, you've got a strong financial position, but if you were to refinance today or if you're getting new debt coming in, what are you seeing as the all-in cost of debt of that? Is it sort of 3.5%-4.5%, depending on which sort of financial instrument you use? Then also, what do you see as the availability of credit in the market? Are you seeing any restrictions on that?
Are you seeing any, you know, additional scrutiny from either the bond market or the banks with regard to your ability to get access to financing?
Yeah. Hi, Paul, again. That's a good question. We don't see any limitations from our perspective in terms of limitations in capital. As I mentioned, all of the banks and the relationships we have with banks, they are all supportive of our growth going forward. If there are acquisitions or projects for that matter, they are all keen on helping us grow along with those ambitions. With the fact that the bond market is malfunctioning, obviously that is not the way to go forward. We are very comfortable that we have the capital we need to grow. On the pricing front, that's a different case today, of course, than six months ago.
I would say, just to give you sort of some flavor, you could look at the swap five-year swap in Sweden, which is 2.60% I guess today, somewhere 2.50%-2.60%. We have a margin of between 1.5% and 2%, depending. In Denmark, it's a different case. The credit spread or the credit margin could be somewhere between 70 basis points to 100 basis points over the Danish swap five-year, which is lower. In that way, we have a better starting point in Denmark, all else being equal. As Jörgen mentioned, the yields are still somewhat higher in Denmark to begin with as well.
Okay.
Obviously what everyone is asking is where does yield end up? Well, we don't know. We feel that we are in this unique position where there will be lots of opportunities in autumn. I think that's what we are looking at. We feel we have no rush in any way. From our perspective, we feel that we can take advantage of the market circumstances.
Yeah. No, I think it's yeah, particularly post the LTV reduction, post the share issue to W. P. Carey is obviously helping as well. Just on the bank financing that you sort of mentioned around the looking at the swap plus the margin. With your negotiations with the banks, are they pushing for if you were to get financing for you to fix that? So to take five-year plus the margin as opposed to taking, you know, short-term floating rate debt, and obviously taking rate risk. Is there a push from the banks to give, you know, to give them some security, as it were, as well, for you to fix it? Or are you still able to get floating rate debt at lower costs?
Well, that depends on which funding partner we are working with, but there is no change, I would say, in general as opposed to how things were one year ago in that regard.
A mix of floating, a mix of fixed somewhere all in probably towards sort of 3.5% rather than 4.5%. Would be a fair-
Yeah.
If you were to refloat everything?
From our perspective, we have been some time back trying to push debt maturity, which we have. 1.5 years ago, our average debt maturity was at two years, and now it's at 3.5, and I think we will try to push it even further out.
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Great stuff. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the word back to the speakers for any concluding remarks.
Okay. Thank you very much, everyone, listen. From Catena side, we want to wish you all a very happy summer, and keep in touch. Thank you.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye-bye.