Globe Trade Centre S.A. (WSE:GTC)
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Earnings Call: Q3 2023

Nov 16, 2023

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our GTC's Q3 2023 results call. The presentation today will be conducted by the management board members, being Gyula Nagy, the CEO of the company, Barbara Sikora, being the CFO of the company, and Zsolt Farkas, being the COO of the company. The presentation will be followed by Q&A session, so please keep your questions till the end of the presentation. The presentation is posted on our website, so if you need to see the presentation, please download it from the website. Anyway, we will be showing the presentation on the screen. Let me pass the voice over to Gyula to make the introduction and start the presentation. Thank you.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you, Malgosia. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to me as well to have this meeting, this quarterly meeting about the financials of the company in terms of, the first nine months of 2023. I will start with the Q3 key highlights and some deeper portfolio analysis before I give the word to Barbara and Zsolt to continue with the detailed financial presentation. GTC's Q3 revenues from rental activity... Just let me wait for the-

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Yeah

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

- presentation. Sorry.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Can't you see the presentation? Because I posted.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

I can see it, Małgosia.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

But it's in the presenter view, Małgosia.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Yep.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Any better now?

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Now it's better.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Yeah.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you very much, Małgosia. So going to the next slide. So the revenues from rental activity rose by 7% to EUR 135 million in the first nine months of 2023, compared to EUR 126 million for the same period last year. And the gross margin rose up to EUR 95 million in the first nine months, compared to the EUR 92 million for the same period last year. So these are the reasons of this increase is mainly due to the increase of gross...

The decrease of gross margin due to disposals of three assets conducted in 2022 and one in 2023 offset pretty much with this, pretty much the same amount of gross margin and rental revenue due to completions and new leases. I would mention four assets, two in 2022, which is a Pillar asset and the GTC X in Serbia, and in 2023, the completion of Rose Hill Campus in Budapest and Matrix in Zagreb. So the FFO dropped to EUR 52 million in the first nine months compared to the EUR 54 million.

This shows an increase, but whereas the EUR 5 million increase in rental income occurred, it was offset by an increase in shortfall on service charges by EUR 2 million and a EUR 6 million increase in our selling and administrative costs. The latter was mainly due to one-off item, which will be detailed by Barbara when she presents the financials in details. The EPRA NAV dropped to EUR 1.22 billion as of thirtieth of September, compared to EUR 1.27 billion, which is mainly due to our devaluation of assets occurred in June and the sale of Forest Office in Debrecen, which occurred in January 2023.

The loan-to-value increased to 47.3%, compared to 44.5%, at the end of last year, mainly due to our lower cash balance and, of course, the new loan granted, the new loan borrowed for financing of GTCX and Matrix, amounting to EUR 35 million altogether, and the devaluation of assets. We managed to keep our occupancy at 87% as of 30th of September , which was pretty much the same as in the end of last year. GTC still has strong cash position of EUR 95 million. So, this is mainly because of the fact that dividends of almost EUR 30 million was paid to the shareholder in Q3 2023. If we go further to the next slide, please, Małgosia.

Yes, thank you. So, in terms of office portfolio, there is a strong performance as well. The occupancy rate, we managed to keep at 83% as 30th of September, compared to 84% at the end of last year. The average weighted lease term amount shortened a little bit slightly to 3.4 year. GTC performed a strong leasing activity, reaching 21,000 sq m in the nine months of this year, and 15,600 sq m in the third quarter itself. There was a prolongation of 3,400 sq m, and some new leases took place.

I would mention here the disposal of our Forest Office in Debrecen in Hungary, which generated EUR 49 million net cash proceeds, which was reinvested in our development and in our real estate. Going through the next slide, here I would mention that in terms of portfolio, there were two completions starting to generate revenue for the company. The first is Rose Hill Business Campus, with two fully refurbished office buildings amounting to 4,600 sq m, with an occupancy of 100% at a rental rate of EUR 22 per sq m.

I will mention our Matrix C office, a newly completed Matrix C office in Zagreb, with a 10,500 sq m new A-class office building with an occupancy of 92%. Moving forward to the retail portfolio, there is still a robust progress went on in the Q3 period and in the first nine months as well. The occupancy we managed to keep at 96% as of 30th of September, the same as the end of last year. The average weighted lease term slightly dropped to 3.5 years, and there was also a strong leasing activity, reaching 27,000 sq m in the first nine months, and in the third quarter itself, the leasing activity amounted to 14,200 sq m.

This constitutes a prolongation of almost approximately 10,000 sq m in Belgrade, in our other mall, and some other leasing took place as well. Moving forward to the analysis of our portfolio, here I would mention that the company still have a robust, well-balanced portfolio of a total gross asset value of EUR 2.4 billion, EUR 2.39 billion. Out of this, the real estate constitutes EUR 2.26 billion. And out of this 2.26 billion EUR, 89% is a cash-generating, income-producing asset. And out of the income-producing assets, 65% constitutes is constituted by office, and the remaining 35% is retail.

Now, here I will mention that we have a quite balanced portfolio between our core assets, between the split in office and retail, which diversifies the income stream and the portfolio risk for the company. Moving forward to the development projects, here I will mention that, compared to last quarter's presentation, Matrix C has been completed, as I mentioned, as I just mentioned before, but the company still has a big development pipeline, moving forward with a GLA, a potential GLA of 51,000 sq m, amounting to a gross asset value of EUR 61 million and an expected in-place rent amount, the annual in-place rent amounting to EUR 13.5 million. So...

Here, I would like to give the word to Barbara to lead us through the financials of the Q3 of the company. Thank you very much.

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you. Thank you, Gyula, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me start from the net profit loss for the period for nine months of 2023. The net loss recognized by the group amounted to EUR 6 million versus EUR 49 million profit for nine months of 2022. This is a change of an improvement in the net result by EUR 6 million, as compared to the end of Q2 2023. Why the situation? Let me go now through the profit and loss account from the top. So as Gyula already mentioned, our revenue increased from EUR 126 million-EUR 135 million. This is an increase of approximately 7%.

And our gross margin moved from EUR 92 million- EUR 95 million for nine months 2023. In order to understand what is the difference comprising, please take a look at the bridge that we are presenting on the right side, number one. It's important to mention that on the NOI, on the operating margin level, there is still EUR 1 million negative difference between the properties, the NOI from the properties sold versus the properties that have been completed. Which properties have been sold and completed, you can again Gyula has already mentioned that, but you can take a look below. We are still missing EUR 1 million out of that.

The positive increase is mainly resulting from the increases in our rents. On the revenue level, this would be approximately EUR 7 million increase, which is more than 8% increase resulting from the inflation. In the same moment, our costs increased by approximately 13%. So and this also results in the result. This is also the result of the shortfall that we have on our properties. The shortfall results from both offices and the shortfall on service charges, I should mention. Sorry. This is a shortcut to... So the shortfall on offices is resulting from two main reasons.

One is our still, as Gyula explained, vacancy that we are observing. This, the biggest vacancy we can see on the Hungarian project, Center Point One and Two. And this is the result of a move of one of our tenants from this property to a completely new building, Pillar. Then, another big difference is our local Polish... Sorry, local is for me. On the Polish offices in the secondary cities, the market is not favorable for us.

We lost some big tenants, and that is why the shortfall is observed there. Some of the shortfall on the service charges that we see will be recovered by the end of the year in the service charges reconciliation process. We have full triple net leases, so some of the shortfall resulting from the increasing cost will be recovered. On the shopping malls, on the other hand, there is quite a big vacancy in one of the Warsaw shopping malls, and this is on purpose. This is temporary because we are getting ready for one of the international brands to take the space.

So this is one of the reasons. The second one is that, especially in Poland, as a result of the previous reasons, we do not reconcile service charges on the shopping malls. So this will be regrettably drawing down our results also in the future. Coming back to the administration expenses, this question was asked also in the past: Why our costs moved that significantly upwards? As we explained, this difference is mainly resulting from one-off costs.

Overall, EUR 4 million difference is only related to the severance payments to the previous board members, as well as employees with whom we resorted to discontinue cooperation, which, however, were assumed in the previous year. Moving to profit loss from revaluation of assets, so point number three here, there is a further increase of approximately EUR 6 million impairment loss recognized in nine-month periods of 2023. And this is resulting from the fact that we are further injecting money into CapEx and fit-outs. And in accordance with our accounting policies, everything which is not a development is in Q2, Q1 and Q3 expanded versus P&L.

We recognize an increase in value of such redeveloped property only when there is external valuation proving that the value of a property increased. So, out of the EUR 6 million expanded, there is potential for an increase in Q4 2023. Moving down, the last number that I would like to mention from this profit and loss that we are presenting is taxation. There is a significant decrease from EUR 60 million- EUR 2 million for nine months 2023.

But, if we consider the results, the profit before tax that we see and multiply it by the potential rate of approximately EUR 90 million, this is the Polish rate, of course, but more or less, this represents the group taxation. And if we apply to that the permanent differences in the different taxation, we would arrive exactly at the figures that we see. So this is just the result of the profit and loss before tax that we observe here. Małgosia, please, let's move to the next slide. Okay, consolidated cash flow.

As we have already seen in the first slide, our cash at the end of the period, at the end of September 2023, amounted to EUR 91 million. This is a decrease of EUR 24 million as compared to the end of the previous year. Maybe I will... Again, coming back to what Gyula said, if we haven't paid the dividends, we would be even at a higher level that we were at the end of the year. The previous board members, as well as these ones, but maybe basically, it was not planned to pay the dividends. The recommendation of the management board was not to pay the dividends.

If we have done that, we would keep the high cash. We are currently down to 91. This is still a safe level for the group, but we went a little bit down. Now moving up to explain what it is resulting from, apart from the dividends that I have already mentioned. Our cash flow from operating activities increased from EUR 42 million- EUR 46 million. This is an increase of approximately 12%, which is a healthy increase. And the amount that we have earned has served us to invest. And as you can see, the investment in the real estates for nine months amounted to EUR 94 million.

Out of this amount, developments, CapEx, fit outs, everything that was connected with existing investment properties amounted to approximately EUR 77 million. Additional EUR 14 million was expended to acquire two properties in Hungary. This is an execution, continuation of the execution of the last year's deal. Some of the C pieces that were met, and as a continuation, we acquired the two properties in Budapest. This was Lánchíd Hotel and Vörösmarty property. On top, in order to finance the investment activity, we sold. This is the same transaction as we have been presenting in the previous period. In 2023, we sold Forest Offices in Debrecen.

Looking at the financing activity, please take a look that, proceeds from long-term borrowings amounted to EUR 35 million, as Gyula explained and already reminded us, this is GTC X and Matrix C. But in the very same moment, line, the last line of this financing activity, we repaid approximately EUR 28 million of bonds and loans. Which means that really, when it comes to our financing activity, we are more or less at the zero level. And, yes, in order to finance further investment activity, of course, we have to be thinking about acquiring new financing sources. And jumping, yes, to some selected credit metrics. As again explained already, our total net debt amounted to EUR 1.1 billion.

This is an increase from, yes, 1.1, but a little bit less than that. This is a result of increased liabilities, increased bank loans, on the one hand, and a decrease in cash. And this translates into increased LTV of 40, more than 47, percentage points. Of course, this is not satisfactory for us. We still remember our goal of 40%, and, in long term, we will be, of course, trying to achieve this level. What is not helping is, of course, the devaluations of the assets, that are a result of increasing cap rates in the market.

So long term, yes, we will be trying to decrease, we will be going to decrease this LTV. It will be also a natural process, because when current financing is being refinanced with current interest rates in the market that are achievable, are at the level of approximately 5-6 percentage points. Whereas, as you can see, our weighted average interest rates for the group is at the level of 2.4 percentage points. In order to service more expensive loans, we will have to simply decrease our current debt. The weighted average debt maturity is still very healthy. This is 3.7 years.

When we take a look at the debt maturity profile, we can see that in the next 12 months, we will be repaying approximately PLN 20 million, which are bonds denominated in Polish zlotys. This is the last tranche. Actually, we have already repaid it in November, including interest on that. Plus we will have to refinance two maturing loans secured on the properties located in Poland. Bigger refinancing will come within the following 12 months. And of course, 2026 will be the most difficult year when it comes to maturities.

We will be talking about our strategy later on, but I would like to underline already here that we will not wait with the entire EUR 500 million of green bonds expiring in 2026. We have to work on this refinancing already today in order somehow to not be fighting, I would say, even in 2026 with this refinancing. Acquiring bonds in the open market financed by, firstly, secured debt, and secondly, from other sources that we can recover from the existing portfolio. For sure, we need to work on this debt as soon as possible.

Further, other covenants or percentages that you can see on the following slide, the debt split and the ratios of unsecured to secured and so on, they have not changed significantly as compared to the end of last year. Yes, and last but not least, our balance sheet. It's pretty stable, and as we mentioned in the previous slides, let's go through maybe all the points that we marked. So investment properties, they increased insignificantly. On the positive side, there was the expenditures on the investment properties that I mentioned. On the negative side, the impairment loss recognized in our P&L.

Cash and cash equivalents, as we mentioned, this is the difference between the expenditures on the IP, acquisitions of the land, the payment of the dividend, and the net repayment of the loans. On the liability side, there is a slight increase in the borrowings. Actually, the biggest difference is this is similar to what we've observed during at the end of Q2, our derivatives increased. This is mainly related to the cross-currency bonds, sorry, on the cross-currency swaps related to our Hungarian bonds. As mentioned, pretty flat balance sheet as compared to the end of 2022.

Of course, regrettably, we would like to be growing, but this hopefully will be happening with the new strategy that we will be presenting in the following slides.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Okay. So thank you very much, Barbara.

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Before giving the word to Zsolt to present our strategy, I would like to grab the word for some initial thoughts on that. So the new management started their work in the beginning of September, and identified that the strategy of GTC is something is a work to be begun as soon as possible. We started the revision of the company's strategy by thorough review of the company's financial position, its prospects, and of course, the real estate portfolio. Going deeper, we started to understand the portfolio by segments, by countries, and on an asset-by-asset basis.

with its focusing on their valuation, the yields, the excess cash generating, and the excess cash they generate and they can produce after debt service, their rent rolls, occupancy rates, and, last but not least, the capital expenditure needs they require. We started to understand our liability, our liability side, our loan metrics, with its, with, with the senior loans maturity, renewability, possibility for renewals, and understanding their covenants. And of course, the besides that, we had to concentrate on on the unsecured debt as well, especially the Eurobond, which Barbara mentioned, the payback ability of of the EUR 500 million Eurobond maturing in 2026.

So as a conclusion, the new management decided to withdraw the negotiations in terms of the Ultima position, which was announced in June 2023. Instead of that, we focused GTC's efforts and resources on GTC's current portfolio and the current development pipeline. We got to the conclusion that GTC is facing quite challenging years for the forthcoming period in terms of the assets' cash flow generation capabilities and the ESG compliance and the aging of the assets. So the new management wants to focus mainly on its core real estate sectors now and improve the operation of the existing portfolio.

Our aim is to selectively develop assets from our land bank in order to execute a growth strategy. In terms of liability management, as Barbara mentioned, we have the main issue, liability issue in 2026, when this EUR 500 million Eurobond, which was successfully raised in 2021, matures. So we understand that the company needs cash, regularly needs cash by 2026 in order to fulfill this liability. And the cash sources can be what we identified is to an improved cash generation of our current portfolio, which we can see in the next few years, it will not be enough.

So the new management has to have a decision on a selective disposals of assets, which might achieve its peak in terms of the book value, or those assets with high CapEx need for repositioning or for complying the ESG criteria. So GTC's liability metric has to be slowly switched from unsecured bonds to secured financing plan on a gradually basis. And of course, it depends on the question is when presuming in a decreasing trend in the interest rates. Of course, last but not least, external sources of funds are under investigation, such as capital increase or other debt instrument rates, but all of them are dependent on the situation of debt capital market.

So what we identified, just a few comments before giving the word to Zsolt, is that since Lone Star times, GTC turned into a kind of a holding company, which needs a new strategy. The new management envisage to turn GTC back to a development company in order to execute a growth strategy and meeting the expectation of the shareholders, the investors, and the market. So now I will give the word to Zsolt to continue with the presentation of the strategy, and thank you very much for the-

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you, Gyula. Thank you, Barbara. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Nearly nothing more to say for me after Gyula represented the summary of the revenue for the last eight weeks. I would say that all the rest is what I can say about the strategy is that we should follow the market and try to get in the lead of the market.

Therefore, we should be open to new asset classes like senior housing, housing, PRS, and focus also a little bit on developments to achieve some development revenues what will increase our income cash, and also have a very clear view on assets, on plots, what we purchased in the past, on the basis of land banking, and trying to get to the best timing the best result of it, and also redevelop some of our assets to the ongoing market's needs and not just on the purpose of what it was a couple of years ago. That means that some of our assets will be redeveloped in direction, for example, in Poland, especially in Warsaw, to residential, where we see that the market is demanding for it.

We will focus on CapEx needs, on the new regulations to perform in ESG, GHG, and the EU taxonomy criteria, what allows us better financial instruments and also in the letting, will allow us to increase our prices. I would say there is nothing more. If there are any questions, please feel free to ask. If I forget something, just feel free, Gyula, we will wait.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Well, thank you very much, but-

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Mm-hmm

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

... I think this is time for the Q&A session to open, Małgosia. Thank you very much.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm opening the Q&A session, so whoever has any questions, they are free to ask. Please ask your questions.

Jack Land
CIO, Axebrook Capital

Hi, guys. This is Jack Land from Axebrook Capital. Could you give us an update on the status of the Ireland investment, please?

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Yes, please. Zsolt, can you, Barbara, can you please step in and if-

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Yes, absolutely, Zsolt, unless you would like to-

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

No, no, it's fine. Fine.

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Yes. So, yes, we are progressing as I would even say faster than planned with the project, meaning the biggest milestone to be achieved was to acquire the building permit for the undertaking. And, the permit has been acquired. Currently, we are in the stage of the potential... I'm missing the word, I'm sorry. I missed the word. Basically, object, sorry, the word was objection. So, after the publication of the building permit, this was done officially.

There was the general public, which was able to object to this building permit, and we achieved just one, which was a big surprise and huge achievement. Just one quite insignificant objection. This is being currently managed, not at the local level. The building permit was granted at the local level. With this objection, this goes to the national level. However, really, the meaning, this objection is meaningless. It only somehow moves the building permit being final and binding by approximately three to six months, which means that we believe by approximately the end of Q1, we should be ready with the building permit, and we can proceed either with construction or with the exit from the project.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

But still-

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

Sorry, Gyula. Also, there's progress in the energy supply of the land, so it seems that we achieved together with the Irish management that there is no further need for our own gas supply, and we can be delivered by the state on electricity. So that was one of the most impressive results out of the last couple of weeks. And there's still the pre-let LOI agreement with Amazon, what this secures a high revenue and also high tenancy occupancy.

Jack Land
CIO, Axebrook Capital

Okay, got it. Thank you. Just one follow-up on that. Is the sale of the Irish investment a sort of prerequisite for beginning to deal with the 2026 bond, or could you even start chipping away at it before then?

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

No, we are planning to start as soon as possible. Any cash that will be flying into the company will be like, in my opinion, split between the investments and the repayment. The discount with which the bonds are currently traded amounts to approximately 33%, sometimes even more. So absolutely, we should be trying to buy as fast and as much as possible.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

But still, GTC's exit strategy, initial exit strategy has not stayed, has not changed in terms of the Kildare project.

Jack Land
CIO, Axebrook Capital

Thank you.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Ladies and gentlemen, are there any more questions to the management at this time?

Speaker 7

Hi, it's Peter at Man GLG. I just have a question on liquidity. You know, at the end of the quarter, you've got around EUR 91 million of cash on the balance sheet, but do you have any other undrawn credit facilities, as you did at the end of 2Q?

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Mm-hmm. At the end of Q3, there is still EUR 4 million from the loans that we have acquired so far to be drawn. We are currently in the process of acquiring new loans, which will be secured on the existing assets. Currently, we are looking at the Bulgarian assets to be used as a security for the new loans.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

This will be around EUR 30 million-EUR 40 million financing in terms of ticket.

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Yeah, coming this year, and we are acquiring additional, which will be drawn next year. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 7

Great, thank you. My second question is on City Gate. Can you just provide any updated commentary on how the occupancy is looking?

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

... Zsolt, can you please jump in?

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

Yeah, sure. Sure. Sorry, sorry. We are in the second phase of a tenderization of one triple A tenant, who is... After the first round, it appears that he will rent out roughly about 40% upfront, and roughly about 20% more of the available 36,000 GLA will be rented out in the next three years. So it seems that we will reach at least 50% pre-let before finishing. And we still have our tenants in Center Point One and Two who might go over, so there will be enough space for redevelopment and getting it to the new market's needs, One and Two.

Speaker 7

Got it. Thank you. And if I can just ask one last question. You know, the macro environment in Poland and Hungary looks pretty good for FY 2024. You know, CPI is expected to come down pretty aggressively next year. You know, rates will follow as well. I mean, do you think about... You know, can the portfolio value, do you think it'll start to inflect upward, you know, kind of by the end of next year? You know, we've seen some modest declines so far over the last 12 months, but is there scope for the portfolio to be revalued upward, you know, by the end of FY 2024?

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

We hope for it a lot. But of course, we cannot really predict. CPI was, is one thing, but interest rates in the Eurozone is another thing. Regrettably, over the last quarter, they increased again. And this, of course, influences also the cap rates. Yes, but actually the upward movement is a result of a number of factors. The valuations basically currently are more or more a consensus of the appraisers rather than the real that reflect the real investment or transaction activity in all of the markets that we are active at.

So, hopefully, if there is the positive sentiment of the investors translates to the number of transactions, this should most probably influence also decreasing cap rates, and then the valuations should go up. But. And the second part would be our leasing activity with the increase of occupancy. Of course, the valuations will go down, go, sorry, go up. And this is one of our strategic goals to go up at least above 90%. With that, our valuation should go up.

So, yeah, we hope we will be doing everything that we can to improve, but what will be the market situation, market sentiment to the transactions, you know, to the decrease of the cap rates, this, regrettably, we cannot predict.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you very much.

Speaker 6

Adam here from Bank of America, and thanks for taking my questions. Just a quick one on CapEx. I mean, clearly, you have a number of ongoing development projects still, at the moment, plus, you mentioned the need to refurbish, meet new ESG requirements, et cetera, going forward. Just wondering, how should we think of the CapEx need here, maybe next year? Do you have a target sort of run rate? Is it similar to where we are now? Do you see that stepping up or stepping down going forward?

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

It's depending on each of the assets. We keep the concept of getting into overall and sticking to each asset. So we come out with valuation of the investment comparing to the rentability on the market. Therefore, the focus will be... won't be in one sum higher than it was last year, but it will be focused on those assets where we can achieve fast new tenant and increase our rental income, and that would be basically the change. So the focus on CapEx, on those assets where we can achieve fast tenants, and the occupancy rate will increase and help us on the NOI.

Speaker 6

Understood. Thank you. And then another point. You, you mentioned that ideally, any kind of excess cash would be used, on the one hand for CapEx, on the other hand, to perhaps pay down future debt obligations. Now, clearly, we saw the, the dividend payout this quarter. Is sort of this new strategy fundamentally supported by the shareholders, or will there potentially be further kind of dividend outflows in the future?

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

I believe, I don't know. Gyula, if you want to comment on that. Like, our budgets, I believe, will be prepared based on the assumption that we will be paying out the dividends. As a stock exchange company, we should be, we should be paying dividends. So we will be trying to accommodate both our investors' needs and our, the company needs. But Gyula, if you can-

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

This is what I can confirm, that there is expectation, even though the current market situation, that the shareholder expects yields on their investment—not just the anchor shareholder, but the other minorities as well. So we are budgeting dividend payment, which is not threatening our cash flow position, our future cash flow position. And of course, somehow, we are building up a strategy of our use of excess cash or proceeds of use of excess cash proceeds, in order to find an adequate mix of buying back bonds, paying back bonds, and paying back maturing debt as well.

Of course, in order to execute a growth strategy, we would like to, we would like to invest on development as well as, as Mr. Farkas mentioned before.

Speaker 6

That's clear. Great, thank you. And just one last one, if I may. On the Ultima transaction, so looking at some of the kind of press releases from Ultima, it looks like the ownership stake was transferred to, I guess, entities that are related to Optimum Ventures, right? So although it wasn't in the end acquired by GTC, sort of still sits within the broader shareholder group. I'm just wondering if you can share any details as to, let's say, the change in structure of that transaction, and whether there are potentially any future considerations, perhaps at a right valuation, to move the asset into GTC or not?

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

As the management board, we would like... We can express and we can comment on that, that we ceased the project. We dropped the project, so in the forthcoming period, especially as it is now, in the structure as it is now, it will not be acquired by GTC. Your first part of the question, what happened in the current owner, I cannot comment on that, as from the GTC management board.

Speaker 6

Understood. Thank you. That's it from my side.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you.

Małgosia Czaplicka
Investor Relations Director, Globe Trade Centre

Ladies and gentlemen, if there are no more questions, I'm closing the meeting today. The recording will be available on GTC's website starting this evening. Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Gyula Nagy
CEO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Barbara Sikora
CFO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Zsolt Farkas
COO, Globe Trade Centre

Thank you. Bye.

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