The highlights are:
- Profit before extraordinary items and taxes rose to € 17.8 million (€ 15.4 million)
- Turnover increased to € 66.1 million (€ 57.9 million)
- Earnings per share increased to € 0.13 (€ 0.11)
- Citycon is assessing opportunities for expansion in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries
Property portfolio and business activities
The book value of the property portfolio owned by Citycon was €731.0 million at the end of the period (€643.3 million). Citycon owned 16 shopping centres, which comprised 58.9 per cent of the company’s property portfolio book value, together with 130 supermarket and shop properties, which comprised 41.1 per cent of the value of the company’s property portfolio. At the end of the period, in terms of book values, 46.7 per cent of the properties were in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, 35.6 per cent were in other major Finnish cities and 17.6 per cent were in other parts of Finland.
On 26 May 2004, the Board of Directors of Citycon Oyj decided to start a process to assess business opportunities in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. At the same time, the company will continue the implementation of its strategy of expanding its core business in Finland where Citycon will in accordance with its strategy focus on retail premises, mainly in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and in other major cities.
Customers, the portfolio of leases, and the occupancy rate
Citycon’s customers are Finnish and international speciality and grocery retail chains, supermarkets and department stores, and independent dealers who are not part of chains. There were no significant changes in the customer structure during the period.
During the period, the company signed a total of 260 leases, of which 79 came with the acquisition of Torikeskus in Seinäjoki and 8 with the extension to IsoKarhu. At the end of the period, Citycon had a total of 1,471 leases with roughly 850 lessees. The average length of the leases was 3.6 years.
The occupancy rate for Citycon’s entire property portfolio was 97.1 per cent (97.6%).
Rental income
The net rental income of Citycon’s leasing business during the period was € 46.4 million (€40.9 million). The average net rental yield of the properties owned by the company remained good and was 8.5 per cent (8.5%).
Shopping centres accounted for 55.1 per cent of the net rental income (49.6%) and supermarkets and shops accounted for 44.9 per cent (50.4%). Of net income, roughly, 46.7 per cent was generated by properties in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, 35.1 per cent by properties in other major Finnish cities, and roughly 18.2 per cent by other properties in Finland.
Investments and development projects
Citycon’s gross investments amounted to € 15.0 million (€ 2.0 million).
Gross investments include the acquisition of a new shopping centre, Torikeskus in Seinäjoki, for € 7.1 million and € 7.9 million for property development projects.
Divestments
During the period, Citycon sold, in accordance with its strategy, 3 properties belonging to the Supermarkets and Shops Division. The combined book value of the properties sold was € 0.6 million and the capital gains were € 0.1 million.
Turnover and profit
During the period, Citycon’s turnover increased to € 66.1 million (€ 57.9 million). Operating profit increased to € 37.5 million (€ 33.2 million). The increase was largely due to the acquisitions of shopping centres at the end of 2003 and in the first quarter of 2004. Gross rental income accounted for 94.1 per cent (93.6%) of turnover.
Citycon and IFRS
Citycon Oyj is to go over to reporting in accordance with IAS/IFRS standards (International Financial Reporting Standards) in its interim reports and financial statements in 2005. The company made decisions on the main optional accounting principles in IFRS at the beginning of 2004 and examined the effect of the adoption of IFRS on its accounting principles in its financial statements bulletin released on 12 Febr
