Q2 2026 Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione SpA Earnings Call
Speaker #3: I keep on searching for the way to your heart. I try to believe it's getting better. Baby, take me all the way to your heart.
Speaker #3: I want you I keep on searching for the way to your heart. Try to believe it's getting better. Baby, take me all the way to your heart.
Speaker #3: I want you, I want you. Keep on searching for the way to your heart. Try to believe it's getting better. Baby, baby, baby, baby.
Speaker #3: I want you. Outside the streets and the pavements are burning, I sit around. Trying to smile, but the air is so heavy and dry.
Speaker #3: Strange voices are saying, "What did they say?" Things I can't understand. It's too close for comfort; the tears come right out of hand. It's so cold, cold, cold summer.
Speaker #3: Leaving me here on my own, it's so cold, it's so cold, cold summer. Now you're gone. The city is crowded, my friends are away, and I'm on my own.
Speaker #3: It's too hard to handle, so I gotta. And after the presentation, Q&A will follow. To be assisted by an operator during the conference call, press star and zero on your phone keypad.
Speaker #3: Let me now turn the conference over to Mr. Roberto Zoia, CEO and General Manager of IGD. Mr. Zoia, you have the floor. Thank you very much.
Speaker #3: Good afternoon. To all of you, let's hope we can soon go on holidays. And let me start with a presentation that was sent to you, and it was also published on our website starting from page two.
Speaker #3: And it's with satisfaction that we disclose the main KPIs as being very positive, and net rental income freehold on a like-for-like basis is up 4.1%.
Speaker #3: EBITDA is following more or less the same trend, up 3.4%. And then FFO, a a strong growth versus H1 2025, landing at 21.1 million.
Speaker #3: Another very important piece of information as far as we are concerned is the group net profit standing at 20.6 million, which is roughly double of what we had in the first half of 2025.
Speaker #3: But of course, all that is indeed supported by operating performance. Very interesting operating performance. You find it on page. Three of the presentation. Tenants sales are up 4.6%, and we also introduced because we have the National Council for Shopping Malls in Italy, released data on the 30th of July.
Speaker #3: So we're also adding their data. The National Council released 2.2%, while we were up 4.6%. So we are much higher than the national benchmark.
Speaker #3: Let me tell you that the CFCC Observatory is recording 330 shopping malls versus the 13,000 that are invoiced for. And it's focusing on shopping malls.
Speaker #3: And we definitely outperformed the benchmark. Same applies to the footfall. CNCC disclosed 1.8 as a system average. IGD was up 4.3%. We are definitely higher than the domestic benchmark.
Speaker #3: And then also, hypermarkets—so, we still have eight hypermarkets after the disposal we made with the Juice and Food Funds. Well, IGD's hypermarkets are up 1.3%.
Speaker #3: Nothing happens by chance. Tenant sales are going well. Footfalls are going well, so it's easier also to perform leasing activity. And it's still going on.
Speaker #3: And occupancy our occupancy is going up. The closer we get to the destination, let's say the more difficult it is to have major sets forward.
Speaker #3: And what I would like to stress is the occupancy level that is still constantly growing. The work we are doing is starting to give benefits and results.
Speaker #3: We started in 2024 with less use of walls. We waited average lease before break option. And we are now at 2.13 years. The goal is to reach three years.
Speaker #3: And even in this case, our performance is again growing and improving. And the upside we got from Italy is 0.9%, and it's definitely an improvement in our rents.
Speaker #3: Both for renewals with the same tenants and also in case of new contracts. Over this first half, the renewals and turnover of the peer representatives is 5.8% of the freehold malls total rent.
Speaker #3: And we are renewing practically with 6.8%. So we're renewing the same amount of contracts we had in 2025. Let's now move to page five.
Speaker #3: In the presentation, I would like to show you with some of these pictures, show you not only for the brands we included, but for what those brands represent overall.
Speaker #3: We have Anchor Tenants, growing importance, who can attract customers and visitors. And today, for instance, restaurants and catering is doing really well. So KFC and then Normal.
Speaker #3: Normal is a store that really generates huge traffic in shopping malls. IKEA has a new strategy, and it's focusing on stores where they don't have a warehouse.
Speaker #3: They have these points of sale where customers can order online. And then Upim, the OVS group, is working really well. And this brand name seemed to be disappearing at first, but on the other hand, it's showing a reverse trend.
Speaker #3: And they're providing very good results. Also very important is in food and beverage, we have to diversify our offering vis-à-vis competitors. We're working a lot on entertainment.
Speaker #3: We have two, one in Ferrara and one in Catania. With areas that are sizable, 1,500 square meters, and they definitely attract visitors, especially younger visitors who can stop longer at the shopping mall and therefore increase consumption.
Speaker #3: And therefore live and experience the shopping mall. If we move on to page six, here we wanted to show you our strategic assets. That are at the very core of our business plan.
Speaker #3: We are really working hard on reconfiguring and repositioning. Restyling, remodeling our shopping malls. Both from the architectural viewpoint. So as I said, remodeling and restyling.
Speaker #3: And also sales remodeling. And then, of course, we are constantly working on our merchandising mix to streamline it and improve it. We are optimizing space.
Speaker #3: And some of it is devoted to entertainment. So we have to build ad hoc areas. And also we have to be very prompt in reacting when it comes to catchment areas with the right marketing strategies and also on the digital side.
Speaker #3: And I'll tell you more about it in a minute. If see how what all of these actions are generating results-wise. So occupancy is going up.
Speaker #3: Walls are going up. Rents are going up. And the overall asset value is also going up. And I'll tell you more about it again in a minute.
Speaker #3: So generally speaking, I find that our strategy is very consistent between what we do. We do the talking, but also we provide results. That are rewarding for us, but also are rewarding for all those who are involved with us.
Speaker #3: We do things. And we measure them with clear KPI. I think it's very interesting for us as well. Three examples of what we mean by this.
Speaker #3: We move on to page eight to see them. We invested and it's nearly finished. The Centro Leonardo in Imola. It's a typical IGD shopping mall.
Speaker #3: It's very central, very much connected with the urban system. We've completely refurbished the food court. And we've finished the façade as well. If you see the entry, so we just started working on it.
Speaker #3: And footfalls went up five, seven percent. So definitely it's we're even outperforming our expectations. And then Tiburtino in Rome. We worked from the sales area.
Speaker #3: We captured quite a few anchor tenants. We are going to invest in the second half of the year. And the first half of 2027, we will invest more on the façade about shopping mall.
Speaker #3: Tiburtino for us, it's a very important asset. With meaningful value for us. And it's a year where we, of course, have to face competition, but the results will be really show us that our hard work managed to protect our asset.
Speaker #3: And I told my teams, let's now invest. Let's now start. And we will invest on the Centro Tiburtino Roma. Centro Sarca in Milan is doing really well.
Speaker #3: There's the notorious multiplex cinema. And it's doing really well. And we built an area that can enhance the traffic going from the shopping mall to the cinema.
Speaker #3: Multiplex. It's very much family-oriented. There's a very strong catchment area: Viale Sarca, Sesto San Giovanni. And we also saw, with a survey through our apps, that we could get answers from the visitors.
Speaker #3: It's very much appreciated by families. And we are investing in entertainment for families for kids. Also, we want an easier access between the multiplex cinema and the shopping mall that will indeed also attract people to the food and beverage areas.
Speaker #3: Page 11. This is the major effort we're doing on the digital side. And going forward, I key to attract customers, especially young customers, but not only the younger generations.
Speaker #3: Because we are also attracting people who are not just necessarily young people, but also of an older age. Then the young people, you can have a loyalty card.
Speaker #3: It's highly customized. You can have ad hoc discounts. Or you can have freebies you can get products for free. And this is to really attract consumers so that they can fill in the form, the app form, to have exclusive benefits.
Speaker #3: Over the last six months, we increased the profiling in our CRM. The profiling went up four percent, so we have 40 percent more clients that were profiled.
Speaker #3: But also, we have 40 percent more clients who in turn can give us their feedback, can give suggestions on how to manage the shopping mall at best for them.
Speaker #3: It's very useful for me to hear from a client, for example, that they would like to have more entertainment rather than a restaurant. We never forget that we have sustainability targets to comply with.
Speaker #3: ESG targets. We are really speeding up the implementation of renewable energy systems and plans. We are completing actions of photovoltaic plants for 2 megawatts in two shopping malls.
Speaker #3: We do not directly invest in renewable energy. But we have reached agreements with very important partners such as Edison, who invest in renewables. And we consume we use energy at lower prices than the purchase prices from the grid directly.
Speaker #3: So this really provides a benefit to our tenants who get renewable energy at a lower price than grid energy. Please remember that a long time ago, when it was not the usual thing to do, in 2027, we've covered 70% of our energy need at a fixed price.
Speaker #3: So even the fluctuations we read in the papers, every day, we've really managed to basically mitigate them, sizably. So renewable energy means environment and also means having a benefit from a financial perspective.
Speaker #3: Socially, we've focused a lot on the training of our teams, and also, in the wake of the results we have achieved over the last couple of years after I was appointed, we really wanted to reward our personnel, our workforce.
Speaker #3: We have a special in-house welfare or at least so we are told. It's a very And we've increased it by 14 percent, 14 percent, to really motivate our personnel and reward them, reward our teams, our workforce.
Speaker #3: We work a lot on our governance as well. So the so-called legality rating, we have the fifth renewal with the maximum score. And we are also working hard on cybersecurity.
Speaker #3: That governance level, because we are made our full staff aware of the fact that cybersecurity is a theme. They have to be aware of because, of course, it might be dangerous otherwise for people unless they are fully informed.
Speaker #3: Page 13, as you could see, with we are really delivering on our promises. And up until today, we've disposed of eight buildings out of 15, eight apartments out of 15.
Speaker #3: We also have some negotiations still underway. And what we are writing on the slide is that by year end, by the end of 2026, we foresee the further disposal of approximately 15 million.
Speaker #3: So, this is fully in line with what we had said about the disposal we have in the pipeline for Romania: €21.8 million in 2025, and €10.7 million in 2026.
Speaker #3: And we expect another €15 million of disposals by the end of 2026. Let's now talk about Italy. We are now on page 14 of the presentation.
Speaker #3: Here again, as I always say, every time I speak in retail is back. And for two years now in a row, it's back to being an asset class that is very appealing for investors.
Speaker #3: And the reason is very clear. You see it today. The fundamentals of retail are absolutely sound. These are the other asset classes that are starting to somehow encounter some difficulties because of pricing, because of tenant quality, or other factors.
Speaker #3: So it's still—it's back to being the first asset class by investment volumes. We're talking about €2.2 billion that led to transactions in the first half.
Speaker #3: And that is a very important factor because if you we also attached a survey led by Corp Influence, a new retail openings, about 6,000 of them over the year, driven by food and beverage and fashion.
Speaker #3: With the plus 5.2% in shopping centers, that means that, in addition to being extremely resilient and sound, we are supported by tenants that are somehow enhancing the value of our shopping malls.
Speaker #3: And that is very interesting as a factor. Going back to investments, I think it's worth spending a minute on what is happening as a matter of fact.
Speaker #3: The investment market, especially the retail market, is mainly focusing on Southern Europe. Spain is really has the lion's share. I also have some data of Spanish shopping malls.
Speaker #3: The KPIs they have, I mean, Italy has nothing to envy because we have the same KPIs as in Spain. And then an asset management, Sierra bought 1.5 billion worth of LSG of the family of Roberto.
Speaker #3: The heirs, decided to dispose of their portfolio. I know that portfolio very well both in Madrid and Barcelona. It's shopping malls that are practically identical to the Italian shopping malls.
Speaker #3: If any one of you knows Rome, you go and see Roma Due. It's more or less the same as what you would have in Spain.
Speaker #3: Generated, created by the Balkany family. So €1.5 billion means that in Spain, Spain is starting to focus on pricing too. There's a tension there.
Speaker #3: So whenever I meet in global investors, almost all of them start saying, after Spain, Italy, and I really hope that in and I'm confident that in H2, there will be some important deal so that we can get out of the of the limbo.
Speaker #3: The limbo where the retail stayed for quite some time, and therefore, valuations can come back into focus. And the four months' tenant sales and footfalls in Italy are exactly the same as the Iberian Peninsula.
Speaker #3: Spain and Portugal—we are definitely better than France. We are definitely better than Germany, and definitely better than the Scandinavian countries. So today, retail in Italy is doing well. Southern European retail is the one performing best right now.
Speaker #3: Going back to IGD, and on page 15 now, we have an increase in our court portfolio that went up 0.6 percent. And I'm going to really stress that without touching rates.
Speaker #3: This 0.6 percent growth in our portfolio is exclusively driven by the performance of our net rental income, that's plus 4 percent. And if you tie that in with the DCF model, you of course end up with a write-up with the revaluation.
Speaker #3: And I've seen some higher revaluations percentage-wise, but let me say that I'd rather stay with a plus 0.6%, but I know that I have a portfolio that is at market value.
Speaker #3: And therefore, I am very happy, very pleased that without touching rates, we still have a write-up of our portfolio that is, of course, helping our people indeed.
Speaker #3: Especially the group net profit is affected by it. Which is an offspring of this type of performance of this item. Despite the disposals, our portfolio is more or less the same.
Speaker #3: 1.812. And now it's 1.802. We're on page 16 of the presentation. As we dispose of Romania, we have also completed the disposal of all the Livorno residential units—it's 115 out of 115.
Speaker #3: So the department that the part that best performed is shopping malls, Italy, that account for more than 80 percent of our of IGD's total portfolio.
Speaker #3: So, our core shopping mall portfolio is the one that generated the highest result: 0.7 percent. Hypermarkets, as they are, have six contracts—long-term contracts, I mean.
Speaker #3: Of course, there's not much—there's not a very big space for further upside, value-wise. And then, on page 17, our LTV is lower, despite the dividend we paid out in May.
Speaker #3: And this is really telling us that what we produce, or what we generate, can withstand the paying out of a dividend, as you can clearly see from the figures.
Speaker #3: And it's interesting that it went up. ICR went from 2 to 0.3 times, slightly lower. We weighted average interest rate, and we'll see in the second half of this year what the policy to be applied will be.
Speaker #3: It has a minor impact, but let me remind you that we are covered by 70 percent also. Hedged also on the interest rate risk.
Speaker #3: So fixed rate and hedged bank facilities, they won't be many there won't be a major impact. Of course, there are diverging opinions. That there might be some somehow minor change on page 18.
Speaker #3: You see a very important slide. Despite the change in consolidation scope leading to declining net rental income—of course, if I dispose of assets, I no longer have the income.
Speaker #3: Generated by those assets. So it's down 1.2 million. But the likelike delta between Italy and Romania allows me net of what I disposed of, I am still showing a positive sign.
Speaker #3: And it's not trivial. It's not banal when you change your consolidation scope and when you sell—well, dispose of—assets. EBITDA-wise, it's the same thing.
Speaker #3: And here we have a master list that is still alive—ongoing. It has an impact because of IFRS 16. It's more of an accounting effect than anything else.
Speaker #3: It's zero point something. But it's rental income that can really offset the changes in consolidation scope. Good news, but we've already talked about it during the first, well, Q1 results.
Speaker #3: Our financial position, financial management is providing the expected results. As we reduced our debt and the cost of debt was also reduced. That, of course, generated a benefit with financial position that at the end of the day, again, it has a positive sign on NDFFO or positive impact on the FFO generated by the company.
Speaker #3: On page 21, you see an EBITDA and the 3.7 million of the change in financial management adjusted is improving. And therefore, lead to 24.1 million that is to say the FFO for H1 2026.
Speaker #3: The group net profit, page 22, is affected by the financial management. And it's not affected by the asset write-up because the slight adjustment 0.
Speaker #3: Something in fair value adjustment is offset by the capex for the period because we invested—I showed you EMOLA to set an example. So with that small write-up, we've really repaid the capex for the period.
Speaker #3: Some write-down we had in our portfolio. We are on page 23. It's the same thing as you saw before. Here again, we paid out dividends for 16.6 million.
Speaker #3: But the net financial position went down from 789 to 781. Loan to value went up 30 basis points. The weighted average interest rate was also improved.
Speaker #3: ICR improved. And the net debt on EBITDA is still flat at 8 times. Let me remind you, but I'm sure you're all aware of it.
Speaker #3: Maturity profile. We all have it today. We are in a very comfortable position. The first maturity is in 2030. So we are definitely quite comfortable with everything we have ahead of us.
Speaker #3: And as always, we're always very, very careful. We're always very much looking at upward market opportunities to have one-offs or one-off transaction on our debt.
Speaker #3: But they have to be accurate vis-à-vis the current situation. However, having four years ahead of us really makes it very positive and comfortable position.
Speaker #3: Hence the great focus on our business and also if in one week over the year there's a market opportunity, we are ready to catch it, to capture it as we did in November with the green the 300 million green bond issuance that enabled us to repay the first part of the debt we had started in with the banks in February 2025.
Speaker #3: The debt is basically flat with banks. We have 62 percent market, 38. And 60 is secured and 40 is unsecured. And therefore, with no assets provided as collateral, and then the EPRA capital or the EPRA NAV indicators are slightly growing.
Speaker #3: The MTA indicator is up 0.03, and it's part of the many growth trends we have discussed and disclosed today. I had assumed, when we gave you guidance of €45 million for FFO during our business plan presentation in 2025.
Speaker #3: Today, it was already double-digit versus the previous year. Today, what I can really say with FFOs and let me underline it, it's going to be at least 46 million.
Speaker #3: Why do I say 46 million? Because right now, when there's a lot of volatility around and where every day there's some concern, we have to I'm talking about macroeconomic factors mainly.
Speaker #3: Every day we have something to worry about or be concerned. So from my side and my company's side, we think it's worth showing indeed being conservative, but at the same time, well, you will read it as you think it best.
Speaker #3: But I really hope that if it's not November, it's going to be when we do the full year account. I think we can further improve it.
Speaker #3: But today, what I can disclose, what I can say looking at all the different factors, I don't want to make promises that I cannot deliver on.
Speaker #3: We're very close. I did not see 46, but I said at least 46 to say we're going to deliver on that. And then maybe see what happens in the coming months.
Speaker #3: We confirmed, we reconfirmed a number of—well, our agenda has been very intense. All the road shows we went on during this first half were very interesting.
Speaker #3: And we met almost all of the market partners or investors, especially those specializing in European real estate. And that really enabled us to get feedback, suggestions, have a dialogue with investors, and really talk with them about the future of our company going forward.
Speaker #3: And it's now safe if you go back to April 2024 with the stock price at €1.40. It's quite stiff now. The goal today, which was still reiterated by the board meeting this morning, is that today a priority is to grow—grow our FFO, our net profit, grow our KPIs—and with an LTV of 43%, it's not easy to think of new investments.
Speaker #3: But if we think of asset rotation, something coming from the Romanian disposals, I think that this company in the medium term is really willing to grow sizably.
Speaker #3: Unless there's we're not unless you have specific questions, I'm not going to focus on the appendix where you can see our tenants. Key tenants, the merchandising mix.
Speaker #3: We have in Romania not going to dwell on that. And I'd like to leave more room for your questions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Speaker #3: This is a course collaborator. Let's now start the Q&A. If you want to ask a question, press star and one on your phone keypad.
Speaker #3: To be removed from the Q&A queue, press star and two. Please use your phone handsets to ask the questions. If you want to ask a question, press star and one now.
Speaker #3: The first question comes from the line of Ariana Terrazzi with Intesa Sanpaolo. Please, madam, go ahead. Good afternoon to all of you. Congratulations on the results achieved.
Speaker #3: Thank you very much for your presentation. The first question is on the consumption scenario you have, from your privileged point of view, somehow, and the relationship with tenants and everything.
Speaker #3: Can be attitude of consumers, the inflation that may be backend loaded, but what do you see as possible impact on some I don't know, product categories or so.
Speaker #3: And then another question: current market conditions—do you think it's still reasonable that a transaction in Romania can take place at book value? Thank you very much, Arianna.
Speaker #3: So consumption. The consumption universe. Let me wear the hat of the chairman of CNCC, the National Association of Shopping Malls. Data were released at the end of July.
Speaker #3: When it comes to consumption, product categories we have the same benchmark. We at IGD as the data disclosed by CNCC. Consumer electronics is growing.
Speaker #3: If you think about it, that's the typical product you buy sitting on your sofa and you buy it online. But the fact that our physical store as 3.4% is 3.4% higher than the national benchmark.
Speaker #3: It means that consumption is there. And the average ticket is not low when you talk about consumer electronics. Personal care and health, there were booms.
Speaker #3: In 2025. But the trend is still positive. Consumption-wise. And also positive in the theme of services and fashion. Apparel. So right now, according to me, I'm not saying that there's a crisis.
Speaker #3: I don't think I wouldn't bet on a very big growth of the products for the home, so to say, because post-COVID it did a lot.
Speaker #3: It sold a lot and practically people build a second office at home. And that kind of product maybe is not so much is the purchase of those products is slowing down.
Speaker #3: But I do not yet see a crisis of consumption. Consider that we have shopping malls who are focusing on families. So the quality of their purchase is focused on maybe essential items, low-cost fashion, food, services.
Speaker #3: So, consumption-wise, we are positive. As to the trend of consumption, and to support my statement, there are 6,000 new retail openings to support that.
Speaker #3: Technically, of course, their sales do not have an impact on my P&L. But 6,000 new openings mean sellers who see a possible increase in consumption.
Speaker #3: Your question on Romania is a good question. It's not by chance that, looking at the results achieved, of course, we did a bit of—we applied some impairment.
Speaker #3: The idea and the objective is to sell at book value as we've done with our portfolios. Above and beyond the disposals, Romania is worth 77 million and so in this half year or two, we had a write-up in our core portfolio in Italy and a small write-down on Romania.
Speaker #3: And I say small because, at the end of the day, if you leave out an asset that's worth about €40 million, that's Ploiesti. The rest are all assets worth €6 or €7 million, or €8 million, so a write-down of €300,000 percentage-wise seems to be a lot, but it's what really makes demand and supply get closer if they have to interact.
Speaker #3: So the 14, 15 million would say it's book value. Thank you. Let me remind you that if you want to ask a question, you may press star and one on your phone.
Speaker #3: For further questions, press star and one on your phone. Please be reminded that for further questions, you can press the star and one on your phone.
Speaker #3: Mr. Zoya, there are no more questions for the time being in the queue. Thank you very much. Housekeeping info. Let me share this. The team and myself are available for further phone calls you may want to make or to clarify any further doubts or questions you may want to.
Speaker #3: Above and beyond today's Q&A, we are here available at your disposal to answer further questions. So don't be shy. Somehow. And do get in touch should you need additional information.
Speaker #3: In touch with me or my team. We are available to you. Thank you very much and have a great summer. This is the course collaborator, the conference call has come to an end.
