Welcome to the Cibus Q2 2023 report presentation. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. 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 Q2 interim report by Cibus Nordic Real Estate. My name is Sverker Källgården. I'm the CEO of the company, and with me today, as usual, is Pia-Lena Olofsson, the group CFO. Let's move directly to the next slide, as Pia-Lena will take us through the numbers later on in the presentation. Significant events during the period. At the annual general meeting on the 20th of April, Patrick Gylling was re-elected Chairman of the Board, and Elisabeth Norman, Victoria Skoglund, Nils Styf, and Stefan Gattberg were re-elected as board members. On the same day, on the extraordinary general meeting, the meeting approved the directed share issue decided on the 23rd of March. Therefore, we announced on the 28th of March, the new numbers of shares and share capital in Cibus.
On the 23rd of May, we announced that we, as of June the 19th, would repurchase the bond maturing in September. On the 13th of June, Cibus launched a repurchase offer for all unsecured bonds outstanding, although not included the hybrid bonds, the repurchase offer was maximized at EUR 25 million. On the 21st of June, we announced the result of the repurchase offer. The company had received and accepted repurchase instructions for a total aggregate amount corresponding to EUR 16.8 million plus SEK 8.8 million . On the 21st of June, we announced that the unsecured bonds outstanding, excluding the hybrid bond, amounted to EUR 91.5 million plus SEK 679 million .
Also, after the end of the period on the 11th of July, we announced that Cibus had launched an updated green financing framework and a new sustainability-linked financing framework. A couple of slides about Cibus, if we have any new listeners. Cibus is a real estate company focused on daily goods properties. 99% of our rents are linked to CPI development, and over 90% of the leases are either net or triple net leases, which means that a lot of the costs in the properties are bear by the tenants. The insensitivity to the broader economic trends makes our operations more akin to infrastructure than retail. We have been listed since March 2018 and moved on to Nasdaq Stockholm's main list in June 2021.
We have a clear Nordic focus with properties in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and we pay out monthly dividends to our shareholders, currently EUR 0.9 for the 12-month period. The story about Cibus is the story about portfolio diversification. Traditionally, these kind of assets were owned as either single assets or in small portfolios, which meant you had a very high-risk concentration. You also came into weak negotiation position with the tenants. The banks realized this, so the bankability 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 is worth more than 1.5% of the combined NOI.
When you own a lot of properties with a handful of tenants, you become an active operator and not just a landlord, negotiating rents. The banks realize this, so the bankability is much higher, which means that you have lowered the risk but have the same return as for a single asset. Also, what's at Cibus support and makes us more akin to infrastructure than retail, is that we see a resilience towards e-commerce. We have a negligible negative effect in the portfolio, as the share of online trade is approximately 4% when it comes to groceries, and a large share of that volume is click and collect from the stores.
If you look worldwide, you have see very few operators who make a profit on online food sales due to the lower margins, but also the high costs of delivering the goods out to the end consumer. On the other hand, we see a notable positive effect as our existing stores can work as an actual distribution network for other goods purchased online. Sustainability. Cibus, we have set the goal and have an action plan how to become climate neutral by 2030. We have to work together with our tenants to achieve this, but as our tenants are the leading grocery companies in the Nordics with own ambitious targets, we are confident that we can reach our goals. To the right, you can see the scopes and the pathway, how to become climate neutral.
Looking at the shareholders list on the last day of June, the largest shareholder was the Fourth Swedish National AP Fund with 8.2%, followed by Länsförsäkringar Fondförvaltning, 5.8%, Avanza Pension, 4.0%, Nordnet Pension, 3.7%, and Vanguard, owning 3.4%. In total, the 15 largest shareholders own 43.1% of the company, and Cibus had 48,000 shareholders on the last day of June. The share price performance, we have an average daily volume of SEK 85 million, of which, SEK 39 million is traded over Nasdaq, with about 3,200 transactions a day. The stock market unease and the turbulence experienced since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as well as rising inflation and interest rate expectations, have affected Cibus share price.
At the end of June, we were trading at SEK 104.85 . Over to Pia-Lena for the financial overview.
Thank you. Here are some key figures for the second quarter. Rental income was EUR 29.6 million. Net operating income grew with 11% to EUR 28.1 million. Profit from property management was EUR 11.5 million, and earnings after tax, EUR 4 million, or EUR 0.06 per share. The low earnings was due to unrealized changes in property values of minus EUR 8.3 million in the quarter. If you go into details, there are some items affecting comparability in the second quarter. Administration expenses include a positive, non-recurring item of EUR 0.4 million due to reversal of a provision in connection with an earlier acquisition. Net financial items include a redemption premium of minus EUR 0.7 million and an exchange rate loss of minus EUR 0.5 million.
Profit from property management, excluding the items affecting comparability and exchange rate effects, amounts to EUR 12.3 million. Unrealized changes in property value was minus EUR 8.3 million, and is due to increased yield requirements of about 5 basis points. We have a positive effect of unrealized changes in value of interest rate derivatives of EUR 2.5 million. Our earnings capacity shows a net operating income of EUR 111.3 million, which is an increase of 8%. The lower exchange rate on the SEK and the NOK, compared to the euro, has affected the earnings capacity negatively. Mainly, indexations have increased the rents. The underlying business is doing well. Net financial expenses has, however, significantly increased due to the increased reference rates. The profit from property management cash items shows EUR 0.91 per share.
The dividend is EUR 0.90 per share. The dividend was proposed by the board with consideration that the directed share issue should be used to buy back bonds and to make additional interest rate caps to secure the long-term cash flow. By looking at the net operating income in a comparable portfolio, you can see that the effect of indexation and other rent increases amounted to 8.6%. Index increases going forward will increase the net operating income and cash flow, while the financial expenses are more than 95% capped. Cibus also has a strong cash position at the end of the second quarter that can be used to further strengthen the balance sheet and cash flow.
We had 455 properties at the end of the second quarter, with a property value of EUR 1,815 million. Properties with grocery and daily good tenants contribute with 97% of our net operating income. Cibus segments is countries. Finland is the largest market, with 69% of the net operating income in the second quarter. Finland, Denmark, 14%, Sweden, 13%, and Norway, 4%. The countries contribute with fairly the same percentage as the NOI in property value. Cibus' strategy is to give our shareholders strong dividend on a monthly basis. We currently pay out EUR 0.90 per share, divided into 12 installments. The dividend yield on the closing share price of SEK 104.85 at the end of the quarter was 10.1%.
Looking at the balance sheet, property value was EUR 1,815 million. Secured debt was EUR 917 million, giving a loan- to- value on secured debt of 50.5%. Unsecured bonds amounted to EUR 149 million, giving a net loan to value of 56.5%. Our net asset value, EPRA NAV, was EUR 744 million, or EUR 13 per share. Our average lease time was 5.1 years at the end of the second quarter. We have, during the quarter, prolonged leases on 31 assets and leased out to Tokmanni with five years that would otherwise have matured during 2024 and 2025. Regarding funding, now 84% of our external funding is bank loans. We have, during the quarter, raised new bank loans and reduced the volume of outstanding bonds.
100% of the bank loans are interest rates hedged, and can maximum amount to 3.95% between September 2023, up to and including December 2024. Interest can maximum amount to 4.05% during the first half of 2025, after which the interest hedges gradually matures. 75% of our outstanding bonds are also hedged. In total, more than 95% of all debt is interest rate hedged. The first loan to mature is in December 2024, which is a bond of EUR 32 million that matures. Based on the earnings capacity, taking all interest rate hedges into consideration, an increase of the market interest rate with 1% would affect profit with EUR 0.9 million annually. An increase with 2% would affect profit with EUR -1.4 million.
Cibus target is to maintain the interest coverage ratio above two. With the company as low exposure to floating interest rates, we expect that this target can be maintained for the next 12 months, as long as the underlying reference rates are below 9%. Over to you, Sverker.
Yes, in the future, the focus areas going forward. Our main priority is to continue to optimize our balance sheets, to increase cash flow, and to secure future dividends, but also ESG projects to increase energy efficiency and to become climate neutral by 2030. The primary reasons to invest in the Cibus share: we produce a high and stable yield. There is a potential for favorable value growth, as 99% of our rents are CPI linked, which will give noticeable growth in our NOI, even without acquisitions. We pay out gradually rising monthly dividends. Last but not least, we are active in a segment with a long-term resilience and stability. The grocery and the daily goods sector have experienced stable, non-cyclical growth over time. Historically, the grocery sector has grown by approximately 3% annually, even during periods of recession.
That's all for us, so please feel free, and we're 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.
Good morning, Sverker and Pia-Lena. Svante from Nordea here.
Good morning, Svante.
Couple of questions. We first start with the earnings capacity, you have added a new line there, adjustment of non-cash items, which is a positive one and has an impact of EUR 0.05-EUR 0.06 on EPS. Could you elaborate on that?
Yes, absolutely. We thought it was important to show the cash items, and these that we eliminate is the arrangement fees have been priority paid, and also cap premiums that also been paid before. Those are the effects that we are eliminating on that row.
Okay, thank you. That's very clear. I know this is the wrong audience for the dividend discussion, but your earnings capacity now indicate EUR 0.91 in EPS, and you want to pay a 9% dividend. Could you give some flavor on this?
Yeah, as I said, the reason that, or what the board had in consideration when they suggested that dividend was that we should secure the cash flow going forward, which we have done. More than 95% of our debt is secured and hedged, which means that we have much more stable cash flows going ahead. The index increases that we will receive, as you know, 99% of our rents are linked to CPI and will increase with CPI, while more than 95% of our interests are capped.
We also had a very strong cash position at the end of the quarter, so we can strengthen the balance sheets even further. This is on a sustainable level?
Thank you. You have mentioned that you want to lower the LTV further and probably also the range for LTV. What's the status of that?
Yeah, we are looking at all the alternatives on the LTV. We have an ambition to lower the LTV, that's for sure. One thing that we have communicated earlier, that is that we are open for selling non-strategic assets. We are not in any strong discussions regarding that at the moment. Probably be a bit calmer over the summer, but we can't exclude going forward that we might be able to. We're interested in selling some assets to further strengthen the balance sheet.
Thank you. I might have asked this before and forgotten, but the secured LTV 50.5, where was it so that you can take it up to 55%?
If we can, I mean, we do have good cooperation with our banks. I mean, they have given us additional funds that we have lifted during the quarter, and we've been able to buy back bonds. We had wanted to buy back even more bonds at the market, but not that many were willing to sell them. I mean, we will continue to prefer to have bank loans than bonds going forward.
Is there a limit in any agreements on what the secured LTV level can?
No, no, we don't have any limits on that.
Okay. Thanks. I guess Sverker, if you want to comment on I guess, the market activity transactions is very low, and also is there any changes in banks' behavior-
Yeah
Towards, lending?
Yeah, absolutely. No, there are no changes when it comes to banks and the lending. We are still a very attractive partner for the banks, which we have shown that we could increase our secured debt to repurchase the bonds. Also going forward, they're very interested in continuing to support Cibus operations. Regarding market, it's been very calm. We haven't seen any major sales at all. There are some smaller sales, but not bank forced at all. It's non-strategic assets, and non... We haven't seen any clear or pure grocery portfolios. It's been a mixed portfolio where one or two grocery assets have been included, so it's very calm.
The increase of yields in valuation is more due to the uncertainty or the broader economics than to specific deals in the market.
Thanks. You mentioned also potential non-strategic asset disposals. Who would you reckon would be buyers in this market? Would you sell single or assets or small portfolios, or are there some big pension funds who could be interested in your, a larger chunk of your assets?
I guess it could be a combination of those, or everything from tenants to property developers. We've had some discussions with the property developers when they look at the long-term perspective of our assets, that they could be very good for them to develop into other uses. Of course, we have to talk with the tenants and see their long-term targets with the properties as well. It could be a combination of tenants, pension funds, or property developers. We'll see what happens in the autumn and in the winter.
Okay, thank you. That's all from me. Thank you, Sverker and Pia-Lena. Very helpful.
Thank you, Svante.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad.
Okay, we have a question regarding if we have any leases linked to turnover in the stores. It's very limited. It's just a handful, maybe in the total portfolio that are linked to turnover. Otherwise, Cibus' strategy is to have fixed rents with CPI adjustments. Most of our assets are linked, well, they have a fixed rent and linked to CPI.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.
Yes, we have a question here. What is that you feel gets too little spoken about regarding Cibus? Do you feel retail investors like myself should know? Well, there is, of course, Cibus haven't been active on the market acquiring properties for some quarters now. The buzz about Cibus maybe not be that big as it used to be. What we try to do now is to strengthen our balance sheets, and we communicate that as well. We hope that the market appreciate this as well, because this is our strategy going forward to reduce the financing costs. We do what we can to be active on communicating the strategies and the way forward in the market for Cibus.
We would like to stress that the underlying business is going well. We have very strong tenants and a very stable earnings. Apart from that, we have had increased reference rates. The underlying business is going well, and it's a very stable business for Cibus.
Those were all the written questions as well. Oh, yeah, we have a new one. Could you please elaborate a bit more on the regear with Tokmanni? Yes, we have as we always say, we have in our portfolio, we have sub-portfolios. So Tokmanni is one of our largest tenants, so we have the Tokmanni portfolio. We sat down, we have been sitting down with Tokmanni for a couple of months, talking about this portfolio, and we came to a conclusion that we would prolong it on the same rental terms as we had for another approximately five years on the portfolio. We're very happy about that.
It shows that our properties are attractive for our tenants, and we have a very good collaboration with the tenants as well. Now it seems to that the questions have ended. Thank you very much for listening in to the Q2 report, and we look forward to talking to you again in November when we release the Q3.