Lar España has achieved a net profit of 25.8 million euros in 2021, leaving behind the accounting losses suffered in 2020 due to the 4.9% decrease in the valuation of its assets.
Currently, its 14 shopping centers and parks have increased in value by 0.5%, according to JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, reaching 1,424 million euros.
For the company, the recovery of valuations, together with the recurrence of income, the "rigorous health and financial management carried out during the pandemic" and the current occupation of 96% of its rental surfaces, explain the increasingly better evolution of the year.
In parallel, the net financial debt remains at 579 million euros, equivalent to 40.7% of the value of the assets. In addition, the cash position, after the repayment of the bond in February 2021, remains at around 200 million euros, "enough to cover all operating expenses for the next four years," says the socimi.
Last year, Lar España relaxed all of its corporate debt by obtaining 700 million euros through two issues of senior unsecured green bonds, with which it significantly extended its maturity until July 2026 and November 2028. and reduced its average cost to only 1.8% per year. Apart from these bonds, the company only has 70 million additional corporate debt from the European Investment Bank (also green), and maturing in 2026 and 2027.
For rentals, the company obtained a total of 79 million euros in 2021, a figure not comparable to that of the previous year, due to the divestment of 22 supermarkets acquired by Blackbrook in February 2021 and accounting for a large part of the agreed rental renegotiations during the pandemic. Throughout the year, the company closed 94 rental operations for more than 27,000 sqm of surface area and an average increase in rents of 3.9%. More than 70% of the total rental contracts signed with the socimi expire after 2024.
As for the final sales in its assets, they amounted to 892.8 million euros, 24% more than in 2020 and only -2.1% below those of 2019. They received 74.4 million visits throughout throughout the year, with an increase of 16.2% compared to 2020 and a decrease of -12.5% compared to 2019. Of course, Lar España's growth percentages in visits exceed the sector average, which presented an increase of 14.5%.
"The priorities of the board and management team of Lar España have been to preserve cash strength, optimize the corporate financial structure, ensure both the best health and commercial management as well as technological innovation for operators and end customers, and at the same time maintain a attractive return for our shareholders as a whole I believe that we have improved the objectives set in each of these four chapters, and that places us in the best position to increase our current leadership in the sector in the medium and long term, hand in hand with a excellent portfolio of assets", said José Luis del Valle, chairman of the socimi's board of directors.
