Quartiers Properties’ Year-End Report – January to December 2021

Today Quartiers Properties AB (publ) published the company’s year-end report for the period January to December 2021

Summary of the period

THE PERIOD OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2021

• Net sales for the fourth quarter totalled SEK 49,784 (10,131) thousand.
• The company's cash flow from operating activities, including the sale of housing, amounted to SEK 24,549 (-17,051) thousand.
• Revenue from the operator business, including Boho Club and the company's apartment rental business, amounted to
  SEK 15,883 (6,653) thousand, corresponding to an increase of SEK 9,230 thousand, or 139% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. The operating profit from operations before depreciation and amortisation totalled SEK 700 (-4,854) thousand.
• Revenue from the divestment of properties during the period amounted to SEK 33,901 (3,478) thousand. The sale concerns apartments in the company's apartment complex in Benahavís and the Amapura residential project.
• Operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and value adjustments (EBITDA) totalled SEK -2,726 (-9,206) thousand. Due to previous value adjustments on the company's completed apartments for sale, part of the profit on the apartments sold has already been recognised. If the previous increase in value had not been posted previously, EBITDA for the period would have amounted to SEK 4,316 (-8,113) thousand.
• Total cash flow for the period was SEK 3,245 (-19,661) thousand. 
• Basic earnings per share for the period totalled SEK -0.19 (-0.46).

THE PERIOD JANUARY – DECEMBER 2021

• Net sales amounted to SEK 156,476 (55,800) thousand, an increase of 180% compared to 2020.
• The company's cash flow from operating activities, including the sale of housing, amounted to SEK 71,837 (-41,053) thousand.
• Revenue from the operator business, including Boho Club and the company's apartment rental business, amounted to SEK 64,513 (32,643) thousand, corresponding to an increase of 98% compared to 2020.
• Revenue from the divestment of properties during the period amounted to SEK 91,963 (23,157) thousand, corresponding to an increase of 297% compared to 2020. 
• Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled SEK -8,664 (-31,189) thousand. Had the increase in value of the company's sold apartments not been posted earlier, EBITDA for the period would have amounted to SEK 22,683 (-21,721) thousand.
• The profit/loss from financial items was SEK -30,644 (-21,823) thousand.
• Profit after tax was SEK -54,496 (-67,604) thousand.
• Basic earnings per share totalled SEK -1.03 (-1.44). 
• In 2021, a total of 19 apartments in the company's apartment complex in Benahavís were sold, including four in the fourth quarter. The recognised profit after tax is SEK 5,390 thousand. SEK 31,347 thousand of this profit after tax was recognised in previous periods as an unrealised change in value after tax. The reported profit/loss includes sales commission and administrative selling expenses of SEK -3,036 thousand, as well as recovered VAT (expense) of SEK -1,871 thousand. Increased demand allowed for sales at the end of the period to be made at a higher value than at the beginning of the year. During the year, the Amapura residential project and one of two plots in Los Flamingos were also sold.
• Reported equity at 31 December 2021 amounted to SEK 242,983 (281,761) thousand.
• The company’s net asset value on 31 December 2021 was SEK 320,588 (316,907) thousand, which equates to SEK 5.85 (6.09) per share. The net asset value has been adjusted for the preference shareholders’ share of equity (SEK 81,238 thousand) and accumulated unpaid dividends, as well as default interest on unpaid dividends (SEK 12,480 thousand). 

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER

• Boho Club is named Spain's best luxury boutique hotel by Spain Luxury Hotel Awards.
• On 22 October, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce issued a judgment in the dispute between the company and the foundation Central Fund for Employees in Forestry and the Forest Industry regarding payment of the outstanding purchase consideration for the Centro Forestal Sueco property (of which the Boho Club is part). According to the judgment, Quartiers must pay the outstanding purchase consideration for Centro Forestal Sueco, EUR 1,350 thousand. The payment was conditional on the adoption of a new zoning plan, which the company considers not to have been met. Including interest and the costs of the arbitration proceedings, the total cost is equivalent to approximately SEK 15,155 thousand. The cost was fully reserved as of 30 September, and the impact on 2021 profits amounts to SEK -8,927 thousand.

EVENTS AFTER THE END OF THE PERIOD

• Quartiers’ operations have improved significantly as Covid restrictions have been eased on both the company's hotel operations and property sales. In January, the Boho Club recorded an occupancy rate of 50% at the hotel, with an average price excluding VAT of EUR 341 per night. In February, business has picked up further, and as of this writing, the occupancy rate for February at the Boho Club stands at 80%, with an average price excluding VAT of EUR 300.
• Apartment sales in the company's Hacienda Collection project have so far in the first quarter shown a very positive trend. Increased demand has enabled the company to raise the prices of several apartments. Based on ongoing negotiations and signed reservation agreements, the company estimates that a total of 10 apartments will be sold in the first quarter of 2022, corresponding to a value of SEK 38 million and a cash flow of SEK 24 million.
• Marbella has been ranked as Europe's second best travel destination in 2022, ahead of cities such as London, Istanbul, Prague, Rome and Athens. The annual list is compiled by the travel portal European Best Destinations, in collaboration with the EU's Eden Network for Sustainable Tourism Development. The ranking is expected to increase travel to the region.
• Work on refinancing the company's loan with DeShaw/Alantra is ongoing and success has been achieved in the first quarter of 2022. The company continues to expect that refinancing with a bank will take place in the first half of 2022.

Message from the CEO

For those who like numbers and are thinking of investing in our company, it has rarely been as relevant as now with the investment analysis to look ahead to what is to come and focus on the future. Not that what we have done so far is irrelevant or wrong. In 2021, we increased sales by approximately SEK 100 million compared to 2020. We also achieved a positive cash flow and improved cash flow from operating activities, including the sale of homes, by SEK 113 million. Excluding previous value adjustments in the balance sheet, we also recorded a positive operating result (EBITDA) of SEK 22 million for the full year. So we have made the increase in value a reality and converted money on the books to money in the bank. However, I still want to look ahead because this was done in the midst of a pandemic with a new variant, Omicron, which had a particularly negative impact on the fourth quarter. Now we will take the company to the next level with the interesting projects we have in our existing pipeline and new projects that we are currently studying and negotiating. Above all, we will grow with new hotels, with an expansion of the Boho Club in the pipeline. With the know-how and experience currently available in the company, we have every opportunity to make these plans a reality. To help with the investment analysis, I thought I'd take this opportunity to summarise some factors that I think are important to keep an eye on.

Our current project portfolio and organisation
Today, we have an organisation that manages to finance projects, sell homes at a profit, and start up and operate hotels and restaurants. Despite travel constraints, we have managed to sell apartments in our Hacienda Collection project at valuation levels, as well as operate our newly opened Boho Club hotel in such a way as to outperform world-renowned hotel operators in the battle for Spain's best luxury boutique hotel award and increase the value of the property from EUR 23.6 million after opening and before the pandemic to the current EUR 25.6 million. It shows that we will be able to use our existing project portfolio well and efficiently. In 2022, we will launch our Ocean View project with 60 new apartments and expand the Boho Club to include more rooms. We also intend to grow with more projects, especially in the hotel segment. In the longer term, we intend to fully develop the Boho Club and Centro Forestal Sueco with the possibility of expanding the project by 4–5 times as many building rights as we use today.

Operationally, we distinguish ourselves by being a real estate company with the expertise not only to develop attractive and well-planned projects, but also to operate a comprehensive hotel and restaurant business of the highest quality. We opened the hotel at the Boho Club in December 2019, and when Covid escalated in March 2020, we had to shut down operations. It was the worst possible start for a new hotel project. The bank financing that was to replace our construction loans to open the hotel was withdrawn. The stock plummeted for us, as it did for most others, and we were forced to find an alternative solution. The finance team worked day and night to resolve the situation while avoiding a new issue of shares. We managed to secure a loan and avoid a new issue to secure the company's liquidity, which very many of our colleagues on the stock exchange were forced to do. Had we, at this point, not been disrupted by Covid-19, our financing costs in 2020 and 2021 would have been significantly lower, and the bottom line better.

Sales gain momentum
We've known about Marbella's potential for a long time, but now it's official. Marbella has been ranked one of Europe's most attractive travel destinations. That and a gradually declining pandemic has benefitted us and our projects. In the fourth quarter, we sold four apartments in the Hacienda Collection project, and in the first quarter of 2022, sales have picked up and we expect to land around 10 sales. The Boho Club has exceeded all our expectations for February, and the occupancy rate for this low season month seems to be 80% with an average price per night excluding VAT of EUR 300. This is higher than both we and the appraisal company that valued Boho Club had expected.

Refinancing

Our history, organisation, assets and good positioning vis-à-vis a target group with strong purchasing power, which has become even more so thanks to a long period of low interest rates, suggest that the Group's turnover and operating profit will improve in 2022. This, in turn, lays the groundwork for successful refinancing of our current “Covid loan” with DeShaw/Alantra, which we secured at the start of the pandemic. We have recently made significant progress in this process and are in final discussions with one bank, in particular, to refinance this loan and reduce our financing costs. Both we and the bank are working to close the transaction as soon as possible and with the ambition to do so at least in the first half of 2022. If successful, we will see a clear bottom line improvement in the second half of 2022 as a result of lower financing costs.

If we remain immune to another strong wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, 2022 will be our best year ever, and with a stable and cash-generating business, we can now look ahead and take the company to the next level with new and exciting investments.

Marcus Johansson Prakt
CEO Quartiers Properties AB (publ)

Quartiers Properties AB (publ) is required to disclose this information under the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This information was provided for publication through the agency of the contact person stated above on 25 February 2022 at 8:30 a.m.

Please address questions to:

Quartiers Properties

Marcus Johansson Prakt, Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: marcus.prakt@quartiersproperties.se
Phone: +46 72 018 59 98

The company in brief
Quartiers Properties is a Swedish property development company that provides top-class design and quality, with operations on the Spanish Costa del Sol. The company was founded in 2014 and has since built up a portfolio of investment properties and project properties. The company develops, sells and rents out properties.

Quartiers Properties owns and manages Boho Club, which is a boutique resort in Marbella’s Golden Mile district with a restaurant and 30 hotel rooms. The project has won awards for its design and architecture, and since its launch in 2019, both the hotel and the restaurant have established themselves as leading venues in Marbella. Visit Boho Club’s website www.bohoclub.com to book a hotel room or reserve a table at the restaurant. The restaurant is open daily, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Quartiers Marbella Apartments is an apartment complex in Marbella’s neighbouring municipality of Benahavís, where Quartiers runs apartment rental operations. The apartments are perfectly suited as short-term and long-term accommodation and are popular among families, as well as groups visiting Marbella for leisure purposes, fitness holidays or to play golf. Visit our website www.quartiersmarbella.com to book your apartment.

Hacienda Collection is an apartment project in Benahavís just outside Marbella, where Quartiers Properties is selling apartments that are ready for immediate occupancy. The apartments are located in a gated community boasting views of the Mediterranean. These apartments feature a large, open floorplan with big windows, high-end kitchen, separate laundry room and 2–3 bedrooms. The spacious terraces offer plenty of scope for spending time with family and friends. Visit the website for further information and to book an online or in-person viewing:  www.haciendacollection.es.

Mangold is the company’s Certified Adviser. Mangold can be contacted on +46 (0)8 503 015 50 or by emailing ca@mangold.se.