In the third quarter, the company posted the net profit of PLN 50 million. The main contributors were: signing final sale agreements of 238 apartments increase in the value of projects under construction, the sale price increase of the Q22 building, dividend from EPP as well as the compensation for the expansion of Outlet Park in Szczecin.
“A year ago, we announced our strategy of profitable growth that assumed focusing on pure developing activity in Poland’s six largest cities, building ‘destinations’ – multi-function projects based on our expertise from office, retail and residential sectors as well as maintaining the dominant market position. The Q3 results proved, that our strategic assumption were right,” said Nicklas Lindberg, chief executive officer at Echo Investment.
The group’s debt remains at a stable level. At the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter, Echo Investment completed the II Public Bond Issuance Program, under which investors purchased bonds with the total value of PLN 300 million.
“Flexibility guaranteed by the public bonds addressed to retail investors as well as the high demand encourage us to use this source of financing in the future. We are strong and stable Group and our bonds are among the most liquid assets listed at the Catalyst market. We extend the new bonds’ maturity which contributed to the Company’s strength. Next year, we intend to launch another bond issuance program targeted at retail investors,” said Maciej Drozd, chief financial officer at Echo Investment.
The highest growth rate has been recorded in the residential sector. From the beginning of the year to the end of October, our sales representatives signed 1,035 preliminary agreements and 706 final ones. After the three quarters, the sales in the residential sector grew 76 percent compare to [the first] three quarters 2016.
“Our annual target to sell 1,300 apartments and hand over keys to 925 is within the reach. What’s important, the final agreements cover more and more units completed as parts of newly-acquired and better-designed investments, which means higher margins. In a long- term we want our residential projects to generate highly sustainable margin,” said Waldemar Olbryk, the management board member supervising the residential sector.
At the moment, the company has 75 projects under construction and preparation, with the total leasing and sale area exceeding 1.06 million sqm. Since the beginning of the year, the acquisition team has finalized the take-over of plots and projects that would accommodate 420,000 sqm of office, residential, retail, and service space. The list includes large sites in Łódź on Tymienieckiego street as well as in Cracow, on Wita Stwosza street, where new ‘destinations’, well-integrated with the city projects will be completed. Browary Warszawskie, on Grzybowska street in Warsaw, is the first such a complex venture in the company’s portfolio.
