Welcome to Cibus Nordic Real Estate Q4 report for 2022. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to CEO Sverker Källgården and CFO Pia-Lena Olofsson. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Once again, welcome to the Cibus Nordic Q4 interim report. My name is Sverker Källgården. I'm the CEO of the company. With me today, with a bit of a sore throat, is Pia-Lena Olofsson, Chief Financial Officer. Pia-Lena will take us through the numbers later on in the presentation. Let's jump straight into the next slide about the significant events of the fourth quarter. On October 7th, we announced that we had acquired and then taken possession of a grocery and daily goods property in Denmark. On October 10th, we announced that the nomination committee in preparation for the next annual general meeting had been appointed. On October 13th, we announced that we had acquired another property in this time in Finland.
On November 21st, we announced that we were considering issuing a senior unsecured bond and launching an offer to repurchase our outstanding Eurobonds. On the 22nd of November, we announced that we had issued a senior unsecured bond of EUR 70 million under our MTN programme. On the 23rd of November, the results were announced of the offer to repurchase the company's bonds. The company had received priority repurchase order for a total of EUR 46.9 million. Today, the board of directors dividend proposal was announced, and the board of directors intend to propose to the 2023 Annual General Meeting a dividend of EUR 0.9 per share, distributed over 12 payment occasions. I will try to give you some color on the board's proposal regarding dividend to the annual general meeting.
As I said, the board's proposal is to pay a dividend of EUR 0.9 per share, divided into 12 payments. The last six months, the 300 basis point rise in interest rates in the last six months, that has been extraordinary. We have interest caps that mitigate part of the impact in the short to mid-term, but the long-term effect on our debt of EUR 1.1 billion is about EUR 30 million per year. Therefore, to raise dividend by 5% from last AGM is unsustainable in this interest rate environment. We could have stretched just another year, but going forward, it's not sustainable over time. By making this adjustment now and not when the interest rate hedges expire, we clarify the long-term dividend capacity.
This is a level of dividend that is sustainable at current interest levels. It also affords Cibus to take advantage of value and cash flow contributing investments in our portfolio. If the proposal is decided at the AGM, Cibus will also be better prepared when interesting business opportunities comes to market. Cibus Nordic, we are a real estate company, focused on daily goods properties. 99% of our rents are linked to CPI development, and over 90% of our leases are either net or triple net, which means that the tenants bear most of the costs for running the property. Our insensitivity to the broader economic trends make operations more akin to infrastructure than retail. Our properties allow our tenants to provide groceries to the populations of the Nordic countries regardless economic situation.
Cibus' underlying business is non-cyclical and almost contracyclical as it tends to. The volumes of groceries tends to grow at the worst economical situations. We are listed since March 2018 and on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap since June 2021. We currently have a clear Nordic focus. We are present in the four Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. We pay out monthly dividends to our shareholders. Current 12-month period, we pay out EUR 0.99, and the board's proposal for the coming 12 months is EUR 0.90. The story about Cibus is the story about portfolio diversification. Traditionally, these kind of assets were owned as either the single assets or in small portfolios of two to five assets, which meant you had a very high risk concentration.
If the tenant left, you lost your cash flow. You came into a weak negotiation position with the tenants. The banks realized this, so the bank abilities was low, which meant you had a high risk, but also a high return business. What Cibus realized is that if you own more than 450 of these assets, you diversify the risk and lower the concentration. Only one of our assets stands for more than 1.5% of our NOI. You become an active cooperator with the tenant and not just the landlord. The banks realize this, so the bankability is much higher, and it means you lower the risk, but you have the same return as for single assets.
Due to the risk factor, we can buy assets 50 basis points- 100 basis points higher than the existing portfolio is trading at and produce value-creating growth for our shareholders. Cibus also sets apart because we see a resilience towards e-commerce. We see a negligible negative effect. The share of online grocery sales are back to around 4% as they were before the pandemic, and a large share of that volume is Click and Collect from our stores. Looking worldwide, you can see and find very few operators making profit on online food sales. On the other hand, we see a notable positive effect as our existing stores work at a natural distribution network for other goods purchased online. Sustainability at Cibus.
We are driven by the conviction that we, in our decisions about our real estate portfolio, can contribute to responsible social development. We have the ambition to promote sustainable development for both tenants as a living community, and that this contributes to good long-term profit development for our shareholders. Today, we have 43 of our properties with solar panels. We have also started installation of solar panels under our own management, and the first facility under our own operation was completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. We have set the goal to have zero emissions by 2030. Looking at growth, 2022, we have acquired properties of EUR 342 million. That's a growth of 23% compared to Q4 2021. Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are our main markets, but the other European markets are monitored.
We have a mandate to issue up to 10% new shares. Due to the new market situation and the timing for the goal, the growth target that we have to reach a portfolio between EUR 2.5 billion-3 billion, that has been postponed until the markets are more stable. Looking at the shareholders list on the last day of December 2022, the Fourth National AP Fund was the largest shareholder, owning 6.5% of the company, followed by AB Sagax, Länsförsäkringar Fonder, Vanguard, Marjan Dragicevic, and BlackRock. In total, the 50 largest shareholder owned 43% of the company, and Cibus had 43,000 shareholders. Looking at the Cibus share price performance, the average daily volume, in total is 45 million SEK, and that, of which 23 million SEK is purchased via Nasdaq.
We have around 2,300 transactions a day. We are affected by the stock market turbulence since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as well as rising inflation and interest rates. The share price on the last day of December was 143.4 SEK. Over to Pia-Lena for the financial overview.
Thank you. Here are some key figures for the fourth quarter. Rental income was EUR 28.3 million. Net operating income grew with 30% to EUR 26.5 million. Profit from property management was EUR 12.4 million, earnings after tax minus EUR 10.6 million, or minus EUR 0.23 per share. The negative earnings was due to unrealized changes in property value of minus EUR 24.5 million during the quarter. If we go into details, there are some items that are affecting comparability in this quarter. In administration costs, we have a non-recurring cost of EUR 414,000 regarding the final settlement, mainly in connection with the restructuring of the Finnish operations from 2020 to 2021.
Net financial items including a non-recurring cost of EUR 840 thousand for early redemption premium of parts of the Eurobond that matures in September 2023. We also have an unrealized exchange rate loss of EUR 309 thousand due to the weaker NOK and SEK compared to the euro. Profit from property management, excluding the non-recurring costs and exchange rate effects, amounted EUR 14 million. Unrealized changes in property value was EUR 24.5 million negative. This is due to the increased real yield requirements of about 20 basis points in the property portfolio. The effect was dampened somewhat by increased rent levels due to indexation. Our current earnings capacity on a 12-month basis now shows earnings capacity from the 1st of January this year. Indexation is included.
Net operating income is EUR 110.7 million. Indexation and acquisitions have increased the rents. The net financial expenses have increased mainly due to the increased reference rates, but also due to higher margins on the new EUR 70 million bond. The higher Euribor has also increased the cost for the hybrid bond. Profit from property management+ expenses for the hybrid bond was EUR 66.1 million or EUR 1.16 per share, which is a decrease of 7% compared to 12 months ago. On the graph below, you see the Net operating income in a comparable portfolio. If you compare the portfolio, December 31st 2021, you will include indexation for both the 1st of January 2022 and January 1st 2023. We therefore compare with the January 1st 2022.
You can see that the effect of indexation and other increases amount to 8.5% on an annual basis. We had 454 properties at the end of the fourth quarter with a property value of EUR 1,851 million. Properties with grocery and daily goods tenants contribute with 97% of our Net operating income. Into segments is countries. Finland is our largest market with 68% of the Net operating income in the fourth quarter. Denmark 15%, Sweden 13%, and Norway 4%. Of the property value, the countries contribute with the same percentage as the NOI. Cibus strategy is to give its shareholders strong dividend on a monthly basis. The board intends to propose to the annual general meeting a dividend to a total of EUR 0.90 per share, divided into 12 payments.
The dividend yield on the pro-post dividend compared to yesterday's closing share price of 136.95 SEK is 7.25%. Looking at the balance sheet, property value was EUR 1,851 million. Secured debt, EUR 818 million, giving a Loan-to-value on secure debt of 47.6%. Unsecured bonds amounted to EUR 259 million, giving a net Loan-to-value of 59.1%, which is within our finance policy target of 55%-65% LTV. Our net asset value after NRV was EUR 710 million or EUR 14.7 per share. Our average remaining lease time was five years at end of the fourth quarter. It continues to be very stable around five years, as you can see from the graph below. Regarding funding, 75% of our external funding is bank loans.
We have a floating interest margin of 1.6% and an average loan maturity of three years. The last bank loan in Finland was refinanced during the quarter, so now only a bank overdraft and amortization matures until 2025 regarding bank financing. 22% of external funding is unsecured bonds. Of the bond that matures in September 2023, EUR 76.3 million remained at the end of the fourth quarter. After the period, additional bonds of EUR 14.5 million have been repurchased, so EUR 61.8 million remain to be refinanced. We also have a hybrid bond of EUR 30 million with the first call date in September 2026. 70% of our bank loans are hedged with interest rate caps or have fixed interest rates at the end of the fourth quarter.
After the end of the period, additional interest rate hedges of EUR 245 million have been made by using interest rate swaps at a level of Euribor three months at 2.94%-2.97%, which starts from the third quarter 2023. Based on the earnings capacity, taking the caps and the fixed rates that were in place at the end of the fourth quarter into account, an increase of the interest rate with 1% would affect profit with minus EUR 6.9 million on an annual basis. An increase with 2% would affect the profit with minus EUR 13.4 million. Over to you, Fredrik.
Yes. Thank you, Pia-Lena. The future, what are our focuses at the moment? Well, of course, refinancing of the outstanding Eurobond that matures in September 2023 is our primary target. When the bond is refinanced, we can look more closely on acquisitions again. We look forward to have continued growth in the Nordics, but are also monitoring new geographies. We have also identified several ESG projects in our portfolio that are profitable and will take us towards our goal of being carbon dioxide neutral by 2030. The primary reasons to invest in the Cibus share, we produce a high and stable yield for our shareholders.
There is a potential for favorable value growth as 99% of our rents are CPI linked, which gave noticeable growth in our NOI even without acquisitions. We have gradually rising monthly dividends, and we are in a segment with a long-term resilience and stability. The grocery and daily goods sector has experienced stable non-cyclical growth over time. Historically, the grocery sector has grown by approximately 3% annually. It also shows strong resilience to the growing e-commerce trend. Okay. Thank you very much, and we are now open for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Svante Krokfors from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Hi, Svante from Nordea. I hope you can hear me.
Hello, Svante. We can hear you perfectly.
Thank you, Sverker and Pia-Lena for the presentation. I have a couple of questions, if I may. First regarding the dividend cut. I think it's good to be proactive here, unlike some other companies who have reported today. How should we look now at the EUR 0.90 and relate that to your earnings capacity going forward? So I guess, given the current interest rate environment, if interest rates stay at these levels, it implies that your EPS should, in that circumstance, clearly exceed the EUR 0.90 dividend.
Yes. This is, we have been calculating on this, and this is a sustainable level, going forward on the current interest rate levels.
Thank you. Perhaps on your valuation changes in Q4 -24.5. It's a bit more than 1% of your asset base. You said it was around 20 basis point increase. Could you elaborate a bit on what the external evaluators have used there? Because, and some companies, especially in Finland, have in the lack of reference deals they have the external evaluators have made kind of a gut feeling valuation also. How... Can you elaborate a bit on that?
Yes. As we've said, we externally evaluate all of our properties each quarter. We are conservative, so we do not speculate in valuations. We tend to follow the evaluators' values on our properties if we haven't got a totally different view on it, for sure. If that is the case, we always do that together with the board of directors, and it's always a lower valuation from the company than the evaluator. We are conservative when it comes to valuation, and we like to be on the safe side as well.
We do not wanna sit here in the first and second and third quarter when the evaluators finally see that there are deals in the market and I wouldn't say panic, but they really low the valuations. We have had discussions with evaluators, and yes, there are gut feelings. There have been some acquisitions in the market in the four Nordic countries. When there are lack of deals in the market, it goes to the gut feeling and hopefully they're safer than sorrow. We try to stay on the positive or on the stable side as well, as we said. We are conservative, and we follow the external evaluators' values.
Thank you. There seems to be objects available in the market. I think you took a slight one-off cost from terminating a possible acquisition. What kind of activity do you see in the market now?
We are looking. There are signs that there will be properties and portfolios on the market. It's not a huge activity at the moment as many of the companies are looking at re-refinancing the debt. There will probably, and there will probably be deals in the market going forward over the year, and we want to be prepared for that as well. If this proposal goes into decision at the AGM, we will be better prepared when interesting business opportunities comes to market.
Did I understand correctly that before the refinancing of the EUR 61.8 million bond that you have left, you will probably not do anything?
Probably, yes.
Thank you. On earnings capacity, could you go a bit through now just to make it clear, how much CPI indexation is in the earnings capacity? It's everything that has been materialized by year-end, there are different ways between countries how the CPI indexation hits. Could you elaborate a bit on that?
Yeah. I can do that. Finland and Denmark, the indexation hits when the contract was signed. Usually about 50% of the agreements do have increase January 1st . The other part is quite evenly distributed between the rest of the three quarters. Sweden and Norway, on the other hand, have the increase the 1st of January all the contracts. As you can see on a yearly basis, the increase due to indexation is 8.5%. Yeah.
Thank you. The EUR 65 million maturing in the coming 22 months, obviously the 2023 bond is a big one. What are your thoughts about that bank financing availability and also the share of secured loans? How much can you increase that?
I mean, we are having discussion regarding, to refinalize that, and we hope to be able to do something in due course.
Okay, thank you. That was all from my part.
Thank you, Svante.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
There are two questions online. Why a proposal to reduce dividend more than forecast about earning capacity in 2023? Well, I hope I have answered that question as the board saw that it isn't a sustainable level over time. And being on the conservative side, the board of directors saw that to raise the dividend by 5% for the last AGM, that was unsustainable in this interest rate environment. By making this adjustment now and not when the interest rate hedges expire, we clarify the long-term dividend capacity. As Svante said, this is a sustainable level and at the current interest levels over time.
That was why we, the board of directors, have made this proposal to the AGM. Next question is, do you plan to continue to be a net acquirer during 2023 and 2024? Any plans of selling some properties in order to strengthen your balance sheet? We do not rule anything out. We like our properties, but if we have interesting enough proposals for our properties or we see properties that are not 100% with our strategy, we might consider to sell these kind of properties. Otherwise, we will be a net buyer in 2023 and 2024 if the markets stabilize.
The problem now in all markets is that it's very hard to calculate what the interest rates are gonna be in three months or six months or 12 months. When that stabilizes, the markets will come back to normal again. probably on a different level than before, but they will come back. You say the newly cut dividend is sustainable according to current rents. Is this taking any heights or increased rents in the year future or just today's rents? Thank you. Well, we have made our calculations, and we have made some sensitivity analysis as well, and we should be able to if the current, if the interest rates are on the current levels, we will be able to keep this dividend going forward. Yes.
That was all the questions we had online as well. We thank you for listening and look forward to talk to you again when we disclose the results from the first quarter later on this year. Thank you.
Thank you.