Colonial has experienced a quarter with record income and occupancy of its offices, driven by the desire of companies to limit teleworking. The president of the Socimi, Juan José Brugera, explained this Thursday that the real estate company has recorded rental income of 279 million, 7% higher, and has reached 113,285 m2 of contracting until September in 74 contracts, an area that is in the highest levels in its history.
“There is a return to the city center, where we have our offices,” said the CEO, Pere Viñolas. Companies “look for buildings that are an incentive to attract workers back to the offices” and look for “excellent locations”, well connected and with retail offerings. leisure and restaurants in urban centers “to give an excellent experience to their employees,” he said. Thus, he recalled there are no empty offices in the center of Paris, and only 1.7% in the center of Madrid, the two cities where 90% of its buildings are concentrated, while in the peripheral areas of those same cities it exceeds 10 % and even 20% in La Defense (Paris). This, Viñolas explained, boosts rents, which in the center of both cities grew by 18% and 14%, respectively, while in the city as a whole they have stagnated.
In Barcelona, the manager acknowledged, the situation is worse "temporarily" due to "the real estate cycle", in which the drop in hiring in a key sector (technology) has coincided with an increase in buildings built in the technological district. of 22@.
Brugera explained that the growth in rents has led to a 13% increase in Colonial's operating profit or Ebitda, up to 232 million euros, and an 8% increase in recurring net profit, up to 129 million euros. Colonial, however, closed the quarter with net losses of 299 million euros, caused by the accounting adjustment in the value of its assets that it made in June.
“The valuation of buildings is adapting to the situation of the financial markets. And it is an adjustment that has not ended,” acknowledged Viñolas, who nevertheless considered that it is a temporary situation, which will be reversed. “2023 is a year of transition,” he stressed.
Colonial continued in the quarter the sale of buildings that it considers non-strategic, for which it earned 100 million euros, and which brings the income obtained from 2022 from sales to 574 million, and has managed to carry them out at the appraisal price. The company explained that it will use these income to accumulate cash, not to reduce its debt.
