AIM-listed Treveria completed E76.2m (£66.2m) of property sales in the last quarter of 2008 to weather the downturn in the ‘more resilient German market’.
In a trading statement this morning, the German retail focused property investor said that it expects a further E3m (£2.6m) to be sold in the first quarter of this year, but that the German retail sector should remain ‘more resilient and less volatile than in the UK’.
Treveria’s total cash balance stood at E140m (£122m) at 31 December, while annual income from its portfolio was E150m (£131m).
Its total debt, before adjusting for capitalised finance charges, was E1.7bn (£1.5bn) at 30 December last year – down from E1.8bn (£1.6bn) at 30 June.
Average interest rates on the debt increased from 4.9% in the first half of 2008 to 5.1% in the second half, ‘as a result of the increased margin paid to Eurohypo during the 15 month ‘hard breach’ loan to value ratio waiver period’.
It said that both its Deutsche/Citibank and Eurohypo loan facilities were still in a ‘cash trap’, meaning that ‘surplus cash from the underlying assets after the payment of interest remains within each ring-fenced facility and is not available for other group purposes’.
It has three remaining loan facilities not in cash trap, but said that loan-to-value covenants are ‘likely to come under continued pressure as new valuations are obtained’.
It has appointed three new directors to its board to form a strategy to deal with the increased pressure on its loan to value covenants.
It has brought Nicholas Cournoyer, Rolf Elgeti and Michael Neuburger to the board as non-executive directors following the completion of a strategic review in December.
Cournoyer is a managing partner at Montpellier Investment Management which owns 19.63% of the group’s shares, Elgeti is a managing director at Elgeti Ashdown Advisors, and Neuburger is an independent real estate finance consultant.
Treveria said it would continue ‘maximising income within the portfolio’ so that it could maintain interest to its lenders.
It said: ‘We believe that our diversified portfolio which is spread across over 200 separate German towns and cities is principally made up of retailers selling ‘everyday’ goods and essentials rather than premium or luxury brands, should be better positioned to weather these more difficult market conditions.’