alstria office REIT-AG

Earnings Release • Aug 14, 2009

News Details

Corporate | 14 August 2009 07:19

alstria office REIT-AG: alstria H1/2009 results: On track

alstria office REIT-AG / Half Year Results

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory
AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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alstria H1/2009 results: On track

* Revenues up 4% year-on-year to EUR 51.6 million
* Funds from operations (FFO) at EUR 16.2 million fully in line with
full-year guidance
* Step by step reduction of the syndicated loan balloon
* Two disposals and one acquisition agreed

Hamburg, August 14, 2009 - alstria office REIT-AG (symbol: AOX, ISIN:
DE000A0LD2U1), an internally managed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
focused solely on acquiring, owning and managing office real estate in
Germany, today announced its financial results for the first six months of
2009. alstria confirmed its forecasts on all key financials.

Revenues and FFO meet company's guidance
Revenues increased 4% year-on-year to EUR 51.6 million, mainly as a result
of full-year consolidation of assets acquired in the first quarter 2008.
Compared to the first quarter of 2009, funds from operations (FFO) for the
second quarter remained stable at EUR 8 million. This results in EUR 16.2
million funds from operations (FFO) for the first six months of 2009 (vs.
EUR 20.4 million in H1/2008) which is fully in line with the company's
guidance of EUR 32 million for the full year.

Key financials at a glance

H1/09 H1/08 Variation
Revenues (EUR m) 51.6 49.6 4.0%
Net result for the period (EUR m) -2.3 -10.4 77.9%
Funds from operations (FFO) (EUR m) 16.2 20.4 -20.6%
FFO per share (EUR) 0.29 0.36 -20.6%

30/06/09 31/12/08 Variation
Investment properties (EUR m) 1,758.4 1,805.3 -2.6%
Properties held for sale (EUR m) 38.6 0.0 n/a
Cash at hand (in EUR m) 61.7 31.4 96.5%
NNNAV per share (EUR) 12.33 13.03 -5.4%
G-REIT equity ratio (in %) 38.2 40.3 -2.1 pp
Syndicated loan LTV ratio (in %) 59.0¹ 59.1 0.1 pp
¹ As of July 31, 2009

The EUR 3.2 million net profit generated in the second quarter partially
off-set the loss for the first quarter of the year (EUR -5.5 million)
resulting in a net loss of EUR 2.3 million for the first six months of 2009
compared to a loss of EUR 10.4 million in H1/2008. This loss was mainly
driven by non cash devaluation of the portfolio as well as losses on
derivatives (EUR 17.9 million).

As of June 30, 2009, alstria's investment property portfolio was valued at
EUR 1.8 billion of which EUR 38.6 million were classified as assets held
for sale.

The total equity position is EUR 688.8 million which reflects a decline of
EUR 41 million compared to the beginning of the year. The main drivers for
this decline were the dividend payout of EUR 28.4 million and the valuation
changes of the company's interest hedging instruments. The resulting G-REIT
equity ratio amounts to 38.2%.

Prospective decrease in overall financing costs
Executing its financing strategy, alstria refinanced four properties and
reduced the balloon payment of its syndicated loan facility down to EUR 83
million from EUR 994 million to EUR 911 million. At the same time overall
loan maturity improved as the new loan agreements have a five year maturity
profile. The LTV on the syndicated loan facility stands at 59.0%, just
below the company's target of 60%. As a result of the current low interest
rate environment the new loan agreements allowed the company to reduce its
average cost of financing from 4.8% to 4.4%(¹).

As of June 30, 2009, alstria is in line with all its financial covenants.

Sale of a short term leased asset in Berlin
Following the sale of an asset in Hamburg in the first quarter, alstria
agreed on the sale of a fully let asset in Berlin for around EUR 13
million. The sale of this short term leased asset brings the total asset
sales for the year to a volume of around EUR 33 million. All assets were
sold at a premium to both year-end and latest reported IFRS values.

Asset management remains key strategic focus
alstria successfully extended a significant portion of leases that were due
to expire in 2009. Almost 70% of the EUR 4 million of rents which could be
terminated this year have been renewed or replaced.

In order to increase its asset management flexibility and enhance its
tenant relationship approach, alstria acquired a vacant building in the
inner city centre of Hamburg. The total consideration for the 2,150 sqm
office building was around EUR 3.5 million.

Following the sale of fully let assets and the acquisition of a vacant
asset, the vacancy rate of the portfolio has slightly increased in
percentage from 5.9% to 6.5%. In terms of square metres, this still
represents around 60,000 sqm of which more than 40% is classified as
strategic vacancy involving current or future redevelopment plans.

Outlook
alstria confirms its forecast for the 2009 financial year for annual
revenues of EUR 103 million and EUR 32 million in funds from operations
(FFO), although the company would like to highlight that a potential
acceleration in disposals could lead to lower annual revenues and funds
from operations (FFO) as a consequence of a change in the portfolio
perimeter.

'The first half of 2009 has been a very challenging environment in which
alstria has scored small, but significant successes,' said Olivier Elamine,
CEO of alstria. 'We anticipated early enough a changing environment which
has, so far, allowed us to avoid extreme dilutive measures. In this
process, we have strongly relied on the quality of our assets, the strength
of our cash flows, and our asset management capabilities. So far, we have
successfully managed to renegotiate our covenants, refinanced part of our
assets, and disposed others. We are convinced that working step by step is
the right approach in order to strengthen the balance sheet of the company,
whilst safeguarding shareholder value'.

Invitation to the conference call on August 14, 2009

The alstria management board will present the H1 results during a
conference call:

* 10.00 am (CET) - conference call for analysts and journalists

Please use the following dial-in numbers:
* Germany: +49 - 6103 - 485 30 00
* UK: +44 - 207 - 153 20 27

Please note that you can watch the company presentation live as a webcast
on our website (under 'Investor Relations' - 'Presentations and Speeches')
at: www.alstria.com. As soon as the conference call begins, the
presentation (and the H1 report under 'Financial Publications') will be
also available as a download.

About alstria:
alstria office REIT-AG (alstria) is an internally managed Real Estate
Investment Trust (REIT) solely focused on acquiring, owning and managing
office real estate in Germany. alstria was founded in January 2006 and was
converted into the first German REIT in October 2007. Its headquarters are
based in Hamburg.

alstria owns a diversified portfolio of properties across attractive German
office real estate markets. Its current portfolio comprises 89 properties
with an aggregate lettable space of approximately 933,000 sqm and is valued
at approx. EUR 1.8 billion.

The alstria office REIT-AG strategy is based on active asset and portfolio
management as well as on establishing and maintaining good relationships
with key customers and decision makers. alstria focuses on long-term real
estate value creation.

For further information, please see: www.alstria.com
http://alstria.blogspot.com

Disclaimer:
This release constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an
offer to buy any shares. As far as this press release contains
forward-looking statements with respect to the business, financial
condition and results of operations of alstria office REIT-AG (alstria),
these statements are based on current expectations or beliefs of alstria's
management. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or performance of
the Company to differ materially from those reflected in such
forward-looking statements. Apart from other factors not mentioned here,
differences could occur as a result of changes in the overall economic
situation and the competitive environment - especially in the core business
segments and markets of alstria. Also, the development of the financial
markets and changes in national as well as international provisions
particularly in the field of tax legislation and financial reporting
standards could have an effect. Terrorist attacks and their consequences
could increase the likelihood and the extent of differences. alstria
undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions or updates to
these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after
the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Media:
Christian Falkowski
Phone: +49 - 40 - 226 341 340
Email: pr@alstria.de

Investor Relations:
Brigitte Büchner
Phone: +49 - 40 - 226 341 319
Email: ir@alstria.de

14.08.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

Language: English
Issuer: alstria office REIT-AG
Bäckerbreitergang 75
20355 Hamburg
Deutschland
Phone: 040-226 341 300
Fax: 040-226 341 310
E-mail: info@alstria.de
Internet: http://www.alstria.de
ISIN: DE000A0LD2U1
WKN: A0LD2U
Indices: SDAX, EPRA, German REIT Index
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Stuttgart

End of News DGAP News-Service

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