DIC Asset AG: Successful 2014 Financial Year – Strategy Plan 2016 Progressing according to Plan

Frankfurt, 13 January 2015

DIC Asset AG: Successful 2014 Financial Year – Strategy Plan 2016 Progressing according to Plan

– FFO forecast matched in 2014: around EUR 48 million (+5 percent)

– DIC Onsite to engage in third-party business, too

– Board resolution passed to support the move of Ulrich Höller to the supervisory board in 2016
 

Preliminary Figures for 2014

At the start of 2015, DIC Asset AG (German Securities ID: WKN A1X3XX / ISIN DE000A1X3XX4) released the first preliminary key performance indicators for the 2014 financial year: All things considered, DIC Asset AG achieved its targets for 2014. The Company realised a FFO of around EUR 48 million (2013: EUR 45.9 million). The gross rental income is expected to total between EUR 145 and EUR 147 million (2013: EUR 125.2 million), which implies a year-on-year increase by around 17 percent that was mainly generated by the increased revenues from the joint venture portfolio taken over in late 2013.

DIC Asset AG also achieved a letting result of approximately 240,000 sqm in 2014 (2013: 176,000 sqm), thereof attributable 27,000 sqm in total to the current project developments “MainTor” in Frankfurt and “Opera Offices Neo” in Hamburg. As intended, the robust letting result achieved a stable vacancy rate of around 11 percent (2013: 10.7 percent).

Overall, we realised an acquisition volume of around EUR 180 million (2013: EUR 600 million) across our business divisions, with Q4 having developed a particularly brisk momentum. Especially the investment fund business line grew significantly. We acquired 7 assets in a combined volume of around EUR 135 million (2013: EUR 119 million). By the end of 2014, we had realised a total sales volume of around EUR 162 million (2013: EUR 99 million), which breaks down into approximately EUR 95 million in sales from our directly held Commercial Portfolio, and approximately EUR 67 million in sales in the co-investment segment.

We further transacted successful sales in an investment volume of around EUR 390 million in the property development sector by selling the projects “WINX – THE RIVERSIDE TOWER” in Frankfurt and “Opera Offices Neo” in Hamburg this past fall.
 

Clear Strategic Alignment

By achieving its marketing milestones as published in 2014, DIC Asset AG has laid the ground for completing its largest property developments in Frankfurt and Hamburg, thereby implementing a key factor of its planned strategy through 2016. In the next step, the company will now position itself in line with this strategy by realising the following major mile-stones:

– Intensifying the strategic focus on the active management and the cash flow of the directly held commercial portfolio.

– Phasing out the equity investments in property developments, the idea being to focus future property development activities on the redevelopment of assets held in the proprietary portfolio.

– In the ongoing year of 2015, we will continue with our efforts to bring down our debt rate to an LTV ratio of 60% by year-end 2016 through stepped up property sales from the entire DIC Asset AG portfolio, current income from the proprietary portfolio, added growth of the fund business, and profits from realising our property developments.

– Going forward, DIC Onsite, which operates nationwide, will also provide services to selected third-party clients. Opening the Company to third-party business will realise economies of scale and further enhance the profitability of this line of business while expanding the management with an eye to a larger high-key real estate portfolio.

– This means that the prerequisites are in place to systematically evaluate consolidation tendencies and existing strategic options on the commercial real estate market.

The Deutsche Immobilien Chancen-Group, known for its successful joint investments together with DIC Asset AG in property developments, for instance, will collaborate with the KKR investment company through the recently formed German Estate Group AG (GEG) to engage in future property developments and opportunistic investments. Ulrich Höller (49) will assume the position of CEO of GEG; at the same time he will resign as CEO of Deutsche Immobilien Chancen-Group (for details, see the press release by GEG on the subject). GEG will also count among the future clients of DIC Onsite as service provider for the real estate management.
 

Senior Management Changes for DIC in 2016 and thereafter

The proven senior management team headed by Ulrich Höller (49) will continue to pursue the corporate strategy with its clear focus on the portfolio property business in 2015. At the end of 2015, at the expiration of his current contract as CEO, Ulrich Höller will leave the management board. The supervisory board supports his move to its committee. So Höller will continue to play a key role in the Company’s supervisory board and in the bodies of DIC Onsite starting in the year 2016. The board appointment of Sonja Wärntges as incumbent CFO has just been extended through the end of 2018.

Ulrich Höller, CEO of DIC Asset AG: “The strategic steps we initiated have helped us put DIC Asset AG on a trajectory that lives up to the expectations that our investors have in us.”

For more details on DIC Asset AG, please visit us on the Internet at www.dic-asset.de.

About DIC Asset AG:

Established in 2002, DIC Asset AG, with registered offices in Frankfurt am Main, is a real estate company with a dedicated investment focus on commercial real estate in Germany, pursuing a return-oriented investment policy. The company has a total of around 250 real property assets worth approximately EUR 3.4 billion under management. The investment strategy of DIC Asset AG aims at the continuous development of a quality-driven, high-yield, and regionally diversified portfolio. The real estate portfolio is structured in two segments: the Commercial Portfolio (EUR 2.2 billion) comprises existing properties with long-term rental contracts generating attractive rental yields. The “Co-Investment” segment (EUR 0.2 billion pro rata) pools fund investments, joint venture investments, and investments in project developments. Own real estate management teams provide a direct service to tenants through six branch offices located at the regional hubs within the portfolio. This kind of market presence and expertise creates the basis for preserving and enhancing our earnings and real estate values. DIC Asset AG has been included in the SDAX(R) segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since June 2006. The Company’s shares are also included in the EPRA index, which tracks the performance of the most important European real estate companies.

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Investor relations

Peer Schlinkmann
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P.Schlinkmann@dic-asset.de