In 2005 Bouwfonds achieved a net profit of €314 million, a 16% increase in comparison to the figure for 2004 (€271 million). The rise in net profit was mainly due to further growth in financing activities and a strong improvement in asset management. The project development business also delivered a good performance.
The contribution to the result from activities outside the Netherlands rose by 44%. Activities in other countries contributed 16% of profits before taxes. Revenues rose by 25.4% to 871 million, while costs rose by 25%. The higher costs were due to continuing growth in all activities, but also include substantial once-only costs in relation to the spinning-off of Bouwfonds mortgage business.
The balance sheet total rose to 43.5 billion at the end of 2005, as compared to 38.4 billion a year earlier. This increase of more than 13% was especially due to growth in the finance portfolio. Profit retention increased equity from 1,640 million at the end of 2004 to 1,907 million at the end of 2005. Group capital rose by about 304 million to €3.1 billion. The balance sheet results raised the BIS ratio for core assets to 8.4% (was 8.1%), and for all the assets included in the total capital ratio, the BIS ratio rose to 12.0% (11.6%).
The number of employees (FTE) rose from 1,650 to 2,010 at the end of 2005. This increase was proportional to the growth in activity.
Development activities
There was strong growth in residential development activities in the Netherlands and France. The total number of houses sold rose by 20% to 11,982. While residential development has been very healthy, commercial development in office space in the Netherlands has declined. 100,000 m2 of commercial real estate was taken under construction, in comparison to 2004 this means an increase of 33%.
In 2005, residential development activities were started in Spain and Scandinavia, in cooperation with local partners.
Finance
The total real estate finance portfolio rose by 11% to more than 9.4 billion. Considerable growth was achieved in international project financing, and the Dutch investment finance portfolio also showed a clear rise. The production was 3.5 billion, the same as in 2004.
The mortgage business not only saw its market share rise from 6 to 7%; its result also rose strongly, in part because of the large number of mortgage transfers. The total mortgage portfolio at the end of 2005 was worth 31.3 billion, as compared to 27.6 billion last year.
The Rijnlandse Bank, the business unit that focuses in particular on small commercial real estate, again showed a positive trend.
Management
Bouwfonds Asset Management saw its results improve strongly, mainly thanks to a considerable increase in the number of newly introduced funds. The units assets under management more than doubled, from 1,687 billion at the end of 2004 to 3,606 billion at the end of 2005. The acquisition of the Vendex portfolio, through a joint venture with IEF Capital N.V., made a substantial contribution to this growth.
Other developments
As of January 2006, the Bouwfonds mortgage business has merged with the mortgage activities of ABN AMRO bank, to form the ABN AMRO Mortgages Group. The Bouwfonds result for 2005, excluding the mortgage business, was 135 million.
ABN AMRO has announced its intention to sell Bouwfonds. Bouwfonds expects to be sold to a new shareholder in 2006.
IFRS
The figures for 2005 will be the first that Bouwfonds has published based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The comparative figures given for 2004 are also based on IFRS, and are therefore not comparable to earlier published figures for 2004, which were based on the generally accepted principles for financial reporting current in the Netherlands.
Source: Bouwfonds
