Mercialys Annual Net Income Advances 18% on Rental Income
By Simon Packard
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — Mercialys SA, the French real
estate investment trust controlled by supermarket chain Casino
Guichard Perrachon SA, said profit increased 18 percent last
year as acquisitions and new leases lifted rental income.
Net income rose to 71.5 million euros ($105 million),
or 98 cents a share, from 60.5 million euros, or 83 cents,
a year earlier, the Saint-Etienne-based company said today
in a statement. Rental income climbed 21 percent, Mercialys
reported last month.
Mercialys spent 184 million euros on acquisitions in
France and the French dominion of Reunion last year. The
REIT also generated more income by negotiating new leases
for its properties or by renewed existing ones at higher
rents. Casino, the biggest owner of supermarkets in Paris,
is Mercialys main tenant.
Last year “was an excellent year for Mercialys both
in terms of earnings growth and laying the foundations for
robust growth in the future, Chief Executive Officer
Jacques Ehrmann wrote in the statement.
The earnings dont include the gain in the value of
Mercialyss real estate investments last year, to 1.91
billion euros. Net asset value rose to 25.70 euros a share
in the second half from 23.04 euros.
The company reports valuations under International
Financial Reporting Standards on an historic basis rather
than at market rates.
Mercialys shares have gained 4.1 percent in the past
six months to value the company at about 2 billion euros.
That compares with the 4.6 percent decline for French real
estate investment trusts in the same period, according to
an index compiled by Amsterdam-based Global Property
Research.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Simon Packard in London at
