Cibus Nordic Real Estate AB (publ) (STO:CIBUS)
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May 7, 2026, 2:28 PM CET
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Earnings Call: Q1 2026

Apr 29, 2026

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah, hello. Welcome. My name is Stina Lindh Hök, and I'm CEO at Cibus, and with me, I have Pia-Lena Olofsson, CFO. We live in a very turbulent and unpredictable world right now, and with that comes also a volatile stock market. With that said, I'm glad to present a stable quarter for Cibus, and that we can continue to distribute monthly dividend by over 6% yield on actual share price . Cibus mainly focuses on grocery properties and is the sole listed real estate company in the Nordics. The aim is to create stable cash flows, and the company has been listed since 2018 and has grown from owning food properties only in Finland to now having operation in 7 countries.

As you see on the picture here, this is a good start to continue growth in existing markets and also investigate new markets in Europe. The blue and red dots you see here, except for the yellow one, they are the new acquired properties announced this morning. Net operating income increased by 16% to EUR 42.6 million compared with the previous year. The underlying business here remains stable. Profit from property management increased by 13% to EUR 20.9 million, and that's excluding non-recurring items and the currency effects. Worth mentioning is that Profit from property management this quarter is partly charged with interest expenses linked to the financing of transactions completing after the quarter and also some costs relating to the re-refinancing of the bonds.

Market value, slightly down during the quarter, depending on that market rents were adjusted downwards in a few properties in Finland, resulting in a marginal decline in property values of 0.15% in the existing portfolio. This is not a general trend, and in other countries, the values are unchanged or slightly higher. The average yield is still 6.4%. The total portfolio has grown EPRA NAV and is increasing and amounted to EUR 13 per share. The earning capacity is unchanged at EUR 108 per share. Some key takeaways. As I said, stable underlying business. No surprises in the operating, net operating income, and the occupancy rate is slightly up 95.6%. We have a continued growth during the quarter.

This morning, we announced a transaction of 23 properties in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden at a value of EUR 103 million. I will give you some more flavor on that later on. Earning Capacity in line with last quarter, as I said. Also, in this quarter, we see a strong capital market. Despite the turbulence in the global economy, the credit market has grown, has shown continued appetite, and during the quarter, both bond loans and hybrid capital were refinanced at significantly lower levels than before. In connection with the refinancing and linked to good terms, we took the opportunity to increase the hybrid by an additional EUR 30 million, and the bond we increased by EUR 25 million, which has been a part of the financing for the acquisition announced this morning.

Also just mention it was decided at the AGM for unchanged monthly dividend of EUR 0.9 per share. During the quarter, we have sold two properties , 1 in Finland and 1 in Belgium, and bought one property , and that sums up to 671 properties. The total market value has increased slightly since last quarter, up to EUR 2.7 billion. Net operating income from Earning Capacity totals close to EUR 170 million, giving a yield of 6.4% at today's value. Our tenant mix is more or less intact, but worth mentioning is that Tokmanni continues to convert the Tokmanni store to EUROSPAR, which means that they even more focus on grocery than before. Now we have 8 properties in our portfolio converting to EUROSPAR. Stable cash flow.

Our rent that comes from daily goods tenants has increased up to 82% from 81%, and still 95% of the properties are anchored by grocery tenants. Still, 99% of the leases are CPI linked, and the average contract length is now 5.9 years. More than 90% have net or Triple Net Leases, and the average property is 2,100, which mean that the exposure to each property is relatively small. In addition, we protect the cash flow through a hedging ratio of 98%. With our 671 properties, there are always discussion with tenants, and this picture shows an example where we proactively replaced K-Supermarket with a Rusta of close to 3,000 square meters in Siilinjärvi in Finland. At the same time, we increased the lease length with 10 years.

Some more flavor about the transactions. We continue to grow with those five transactions in existing markets, and we did those with five separate transactions , with a price for EUR 104 million. The annual rent income is EUR 7.3 million, and the properties are located in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, with an average contract length of 7.8 years. The occupancy rate altogether was 99.5%, and the properties have a lettable area of approximately 60,000 sq m. The anchor tenants are Tokmanni , Lidl in Finland, REMA 1000 in Norway and Denmark, and ICA in Sweden.

To give you some more flavor, one of the bigger transaction was a portfolio in Finland with 13 properties, and the biggest tenants are Tokmanni in that portfolio, which Cibus has an established relationship with for many years. Other tenants in that portfolio are Lidl, Rusta, also Puuilo. Puuilo, which might be less known, is a listed discount retailer specialized in do it yourself tools, pretty much like a Bauhaus. More to know is that 8 of 13 properties are located in growing cities in this portfolio. In the smaller cities, the micro location is good, and the business well-suited for Tokmanni and low-price retail in general. 10 of 13 of those properties are built after 2019, and the WAULT is over 7 years . That was the biggest of transactions.

Another one was in Denmark , where we bought four properties in growing cities with a very functional REMA 1000 stores, which have an average contract length of 8.6 years. In Norway, we also bought four REMA 1000 stores with long leases over 7 years in a bit smaller cities, but with a good micro location and a strong turnover. Except those three, we also made two transaction, one ICA in Sweden and one Lidl in Finland. I see this as a good example how we believe that we can continue with transaction going forward, use our existing platform to find right opportunities, but of course, we also look at the same time at Europe . Over to you, Pia-Lena.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you, Stina. Let's start off with some key events during the quarter. We refinanced a EUR 50 million bond by issuing a new EUR 85 million bond with a longer maturity of 4 years and a significantly lower margin of 210 basis points, down from 400 basis points. In February, we refinanced the hybrid bond with a new EUR 60 million perpetual hybrid bond at a fixed rate of 6.25%, redeeming early the old hybrid bond in March. We announced that I will be leaving Cibus in July, and Ann-Sofie Lindroth will take over as CFO. Ann-Sofie is an experienced CFO, Cibus will be in very good hands. After the period, we held our AGM in April, where we changed the company name by removing Nordic, reflecting our transition to a pan-European company.

The new name is Cibus Real Estate AB. We also got appointed two new board members, Louise Richnau and Stefan Dahlbo. Cibus has announced acquisitions that Stina Lindh Hök already has covered in this presentation. Looking at the P&L, net operating income amounted to EUR 42.6 million. Profit from property management was impacted by non-recurring administration costs related to management change. Net financials include a positive exchange rate change of +EUR 0.3 million, but also of -EUR 0.9 million related to early repayment of the old EUR 50 million bond. The repayment cost is not considered non-recurring as Cibus is an active and recurring issuer on the bond market. Profit from property management, excluding non-recurring items and effects, was EUR 20.9 million.

Property values was largely stable, and the portfolio yield remained at 6.4%. Interest rate derivatives contributed positively due to market rate movements. Looking at the current earnings capacity, rental income increased due to acquisitions and indexation. Net financial items rose, following new acquisition financing, some of which will be included in the earnings capacity from the second quarter. The new hybrid bond is excluded as it will finance acquisition not yet reflected in the earnings capacity. Profit from property management, excluding non-cash items plus expenses for the old hybrid bond, increased by 4% compared to last year to EUR 1.08 per share. Looking at the like-for-like net operating income, now include Forum Estates since it was acquired in January 2025.

The portfolio was negatively affected by higher property costs driven by the increased vacancy. Vacancy had a negative impact of EUR 3 million, a large part is the previously in Q4 announced property in Finland. Three terminated furniture retail leases increased the vacancy in the quarter, this was partly offset by a positive net lease contribution in the grocery and daily goods segment. This is exactly why we focus on the stable grocery and daily goods tenants. Tenant transition reduced income by minus EUR 0.5 million, reflecting proactive asset management to support future earnings. The case study, Rusta Siilinjärvi, that Stina presented earlier, being one of these transitions. Indexation contributed with EUR 2 million or +1.3%, where particularly Finland has low inflation.

Overall, like-for-like declined by -1.2%, while acquisitions drove total net operating income growth by +8.2% to EUR 169.2 million. Cibus segments are defined by country. Finland remains the largest market, accounting for 46% of the net operating income, although its share of the total has declined. Belgium and Denmark are the second-largest market, each representing 16% of the NOI. Moving on to the balance sheet. Property value amounted to EUR 2.7 billion. Secured debts total EUR 1.3 billion, corresponding to a secured Loan to Value of 49.5%. Cibus has unsecured bonds of EUR 309 million.

As proceeds from the newly issued bonds have not yet been utilized for acquisitions, the cash position is elevated, resulting in a net loan to value ratio of 57.2%. Fair value remains stable at EUR 13 per share. Looking at the vault, the average remaining lease term continues also to be very stable and was 5.9 years at the end of the first quarter. Overall, over to funding, the average interest rate decreased to 4%, down 0.2 percentage point year-over-year, driven by lower margins on refinancing bank loans and bonds. The old EUR 50 million bond was refinanced at a significantly lower margin and extended to a 4-year maturity, with the bond volume increased to EUR 85 million.

In addition, a new EUR 60 million hybrid bond was issued at a fixed rate of 6.25%. The previous hybrid bond has been fully repaid, of which the last EUR 8.5 million was done after the quarter on the 1st of April. Cibus remains 98% hedged against interest rate risk, use a combination of caps, swaps, and fixed rate loans. We proactively manage interest rate hedging and seek to enter hedging during favorable market windows. During the quarter, we entered into a new 4-year interest rate swap at 2.34% and extended an existing swap by 4 years at a fixed rate of 2.7%.

Since a portion of the hedges consist of caps, higher market interest rates have a lower negative impact than lower market interest rates have on earnings, as you can see on the sensitivity analysis to the graphs. Looking at our key credit metrics, all remain well within both internal targets and covenant levels, providing solid headroom. Net LTV was lower than usual, as proceeds from recently issued bonds had not yet been deployed for acquisitions. Net Debt to EBITDA was slightly lower to 10.4 times this quarter. This metric typically increases during acquisition-intensive periods. Debt rises immediately while EBITDA is built over time and declines during periods of low acquisition activity. On a forward-looking basis, Net Debt to EBITDA was 9.8 times.

The Interest Coverage Ratio remains stable at 2.4 times. Cibus continue to deepen dialogue with tenants, particularly around energy efficiency, health and safety, and support for tenant sustainability initiatives. Progress in the energy transition continues with one Finnish property converting from natural gas to district heating and two additional properties transitioning to renewable heating solutions. Solar installation expanded further with panels now installed at 82 properties. The value of Taxonomy-compliant assets increased to EUR 1.134 billion. Over to you, Stina.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you. A last slide about how to move forward. We will continue to invest in food and grocery properties with stable cash flows. We will have focus on profitable growth, which should, in the longer perspective, increase profit from property management per share. We will continue to work with the refinancing and hedging to keep stable cash flow. Overall, I think it's been a stable quarter for Cibus operations, and it feels great that we have completed acquisitions after the quarter that both develop the standard of Cibus portfolio and also the earnings per share. We want to continue to develop Cibus in this direction. Thank you.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

We open up for Q&A.

Operator

The next question comes from Svante Krokfors from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Yes, good morning. Svante from Nordea. Thank you, Stina and Pia-Lena, for the presentation. First question, on the admin expenses, up from 3.4 to 4.5. That includes the EUR 400,000 one-off. 4.1 is kind of the run rate for Q1. Is that correct?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yes, that is correct.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Thank you. Regarding the property value changes which were down in Finland, this is now more tenant specific and not market specific, the development there?

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yes, that's correct.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Thank you.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Just a few properties.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Okay. The acquisition that you announced today, you will not obtain any bank loans, so it's funded by the cash from the hybrid and bond issuance. Is that correct?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

No, we will also finance it with bank loans.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Okay

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

usually do with acquisitions, yeah.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Is it 50/50 as previously, or?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Exactly. Exactly. That's a good estimate.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Thanks. Do you have any comments on the bank's willingness to lend to the sector? Has it remained good or any changes there?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah, it remains very, very good. They also like the asset class and like the stability of the cash flows. We have really good dialogue with all our corporation banks. They continue to support Cibus going forward.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Thank you. You continue to increase your exposure towards Tokmanni. You are not worried about their financial position?

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Well, no. I mean, we have had a relationship with Tokmanni for many, many years, and we know the business and their, very well. We also have information about how it works in every store, so to say, and we work close to them, so we feel secure with this transaction that we've made.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Thank you. The last one regarding the transaction market, which seems to be quite active. Could you give some color on the how the seller, potential sellers look at the situation and how is the competition for assets currently in the different countries?

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Well, it's hard to give many details there to describe. Overall, I mean, there are both sellers and buyers. I mean, for us it's to be able to find good opportunities, it's the most important thing is to be active in the market all the time. We have a pipeline which we always look, investigate, I mean, that's the way how we find opportunities in the end.

Svante Krokfors
Analyst, Nordea

Okay. Thank you very much. That was all from me.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Fredrik Stensved from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

Thank you very much. Good morning, both. I have a couple of questions on the earnings capacity and the sort of link to the announced M&A today, which I am trying to get my head around. Maybe if we start with the deal. Can you say how large portion of the deal is in each country?

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Oh, we haven't guided on that exactly. I don't have the figures exactly in my head now.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

I can get back to you with Earnings Capacity because we guided on that in the press release. As we said, around 20% of the deal size was done in March or early April. Since the Earnings Capacity is for the 1st of April, we can say that the 20% is capacity, 80% is not.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

I'm so sorry. I have some issues hearing you. Just to confirm, 20% of the deal closed in March and April. How much closed in March, and how much is part of the Earning Capacity?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

As I said, the Earning Capacity is from the 1st of April. The 20% is in the Earning Capacity and 80% is not.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

20% is included. In relation to that, I guess the net financial expenses line item, how is that taken into consideration the 20% that sort of contributes to NOI? How do you treat the large cash position as of quarter end?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah, as you know, we've done the bond. The bond, the new bond, the EUR 85 million bond is in the Earning Capacity. The hybrid bond, as we said, we have not calculated that in the Earning Capacity. Sorry, what was your other question?

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

20% of the deal contributes to NOI. I guess also 20% of the deal is reflected in the net financials line item. Is that correct?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

The bond, as I said, is completely in the Earning Capacity. The EUR 85 million is in the Earning Capacity. We are having higher net finance costs because we are calculating the whole full EUR 85 million bond in the Earning Capacity.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

Oh, okay.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

We disclosed, the new hybrid is not included in the Earning Capacity since none of those

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, that's clear. Thank you. One final on this follow-up. The hybrid is not included as you say. I guess you have a cash position which is larger thanks to the hybrid.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yes.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

Does that contribute positively then to net financials?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

I mean, if we have, I mean, we don't discount. We don't calculate interest on that, even if we do get some interest on those funds, but that's only short term. Of course. No, we don't have an Earning Capacity.

Fredrik Stensved
Analyst, ABG Sundal Collier

Okay. Very good. Thank you very much.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you.

Operator

There are no more phone questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions or closing comments. The next question comes from Emil Ekholm from Pareto Securities. Please go ahead.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Yeah. Hi. Just to follow up on the Earning Capacity question there. You have not included any raised bank debt for the acquisition in the net finance.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Sorry, I'm hearing you very badly. Can you try to speak up, please?

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Yeah. Just to follow up on the Earning Capacity question. You have not included any raised bank debt for the acquisition, just the newly raised bond. Is that correct?

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Are you talking about bank loans or what are you? No, I'm not.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Yeah.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

I mean, Yes, we do have some financing also with the ones that we have taken possession of, then they're included.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Okay. You also said that you.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

I mean, the only thing which is not included, it's actually the hybrid.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah, exactly.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

It's nothing different. It's just because we haven't, I mean, the acquisitions hasn't been made yet. That's the reason. Otherwise, it's exactly as always.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah. The acquisition that we have not taken possession of yet, they are not, of course, in the.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

No

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

The bank loans are

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

As usual.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Yeah.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Yeah, yeah. Of course, of course. Okay, you also said you did 50/50 leverage on the acquisition. Is that including the proceeds from the hybrid, or is that just a bank LTV?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

No, no, it's just banks. It's just banks that we have. Of course, I mean, we have usually around 58% in LTV. We usually top up the bank loans with the bonds that we've done prematurely then to finance these acquisitions.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Okay. That's clear. Thank you. Also on the hedging portfolio, it doesn't seem to change much quarter-over-quarter. Can you give an indication on what types of hedging you will do for the new acquisition, and maybe an indication on levels given the current interest rate environment?

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

I mean, you can expect that we will have a high degree of hedging as we have that philosophy that we want to secure our stable cash flows. We have not guided on what kind of levels that we will do the hedges on.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

It also depends a lot. I mean, the market changes every day, and we try to do the best to secure it as the best we can.

Emil Ekholm
Analyst, Pareto Securities

Yeah. Makes sense. Thanks. That was all for me.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you.

Operator

There are no more phone questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions or closing comments.

Stina Lindh Hök
CEO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

No, we just say thank you for us.

Pia-Lena Olofsson
CFO, Cibus Nordic Real Estate

Thank you.

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