At the beginning of 2023, Rock-n-Data’s team would like to give you a quick review of 2022 of the french REITs (called SIIC) before our upcoming annual study of French, UK, and German REITs.
2022 French REITs (SIIC) highlights
First of all, note that two French REITs carried out a capital increase last year, namely : La Foncière Inéa for €107 million in June 2022, as well as MRM for nearly €29 million in November.
Performance-wise, our first estimates indicate :
- share price variations are within -40 and +35 % between January and December 2022 (with the average being around -14.78%).
- dividend distributions between 0 and 10 % (on 2021 earnings distributed in 2022 compared with share price on the 1st of January 2022). The market average is 4,76% for the year.
All this, according to our first estimates once again, leads to an overall performance (share price variation + payout ratio) between -39 and +45%.
Key investments and divestments in 2022
Acquisitions :
- Argan has acquired a large logistics site belonging to Renault (famous French car manufacturer) in Fouchères as part of a Sale & lease-back. This transaction represents an amount of less than €170 million (tender price).
- Covivio has acquired a residential portfolio including more than 640 lots for a total of €154 million. The whole portfolio is located in Berlin.
- Frey has added the “Finestrelles” shopping center located near Barcelona to its asset’s portfolio for an amount of €127.5 million. This acquisition was made in the framework of a share deal over the company which owned the shopping center.
The “Finestrelles” shopping center acquired by Frey
Disposals :
- URW (Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield) sold 45% of its Westfield “Carré Sénart” shopping center for €450 million, a stake taken over by Société Générale Assurances and BNP Paribas Cardif.
The Westfield “Carré Sénart”
- As part of its asset disposal plan, URW also sold its “ Villeneuve 2” shopping center located in the suburbs of Lille (major northern French city) for an amount of €250 million to the Mulliez family.
- Last but not least, Klépierre has sold its “Buffalo Grill” restaurant’s portfolio to Atland Voisin for €120 million.
Conclusion : The Outlook for 2023
Year 2022 was the worst year on the stock market for French REITs since 2008. Although the macroeconomic context is mainly responsible for this situation, there is much to be optimistic about in 2023.
The REITs stock market's important discounts are real opportunities for investors willing to take some risk. Moreover, this discount situation presents a good entry point for a possible rebound of the sector, especially if signs of recession do occur and force Central Banks to ease their monetary policy.
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