The corporation has completed a total of 1,334 apartment sales in 2003. This represents an improvement of approx. 21% compared to the previous year (2002). This also led to an increase of the corporate result from ordinary business activity to EUR 19,9 million.
Taking into account the extremely difficult market environment, the directors Andres Lehner (new chairman of the board since 01.01.2004) and Michael Neubürger speak of an operationally successful financial year 2003.
The Eschborn-based firm generated a corporate profit of EUR 10,7 and a corporate cash flow of EUR 28,9 million in 2003. The decrease of the result by EUR 2,7 million is primarily attributable to the tax expense of the corporation, which rose by EUR 3,2 million and could not be compensated by the increased sales revenues.
The Deutsche Wohnen AG pursues its strategy of paying-out the free corporate cash flow in full to its shareholders and intends to propose a dividend of EUR 8.75 per share at its annual meeting on the 15th of July 2004. This is equivalent to a dividend return of 6.4%. The dividend amount of EUR 35 million will continue to be paid from the tax deposit account of the Deutsche Wohnen AG, so that the dividend is completely tax-free for the shareholder. According to the board of directors, this tax freedom is expected to remain in effect for a further 6-7 years.
The Deutsche Wohnen AG is currently the third-largest publicly-listed German real estate corporation with a market capitalization of approx. EUR 545 million (status: 12.31.2003). As of the 31st of December 2003, the real estate portfolio of the corporation encompassed 23,138 apartments owned by the company, of which 68% are located in Rhineland-Palatinate and 32% are spread out over the Rhine-Main area. The business activities of the Deutsche Wohnen corporation include the management and the privatization of the apartments.
Source: DB Real Estate
