French SFL Writes Portfolio Down 8%

PARIS-French office REIT/SIIC Société Foncière Lyonnaise, majority owned by struggling Spanish listed group Colonial, marked its portfolio down nearly 8% in 2009, bringing in a second net loss, but said operating results improved further, with rising rental income and lower costs.

The attributable net loss came in at €252 million, narrowing the €393 million loss in 2008, while rentals crept fractionally higher to €183 million and operating expenses and financing costs declined. A slide in appraisal values of 7.8% for the year mainly came in the first half.

The portfolio, including transfer costs, ended the year valued at €3.27 billion, down from €3.67 billion at end-2008. This compared with attributable equity of €1.82 billion, down from €2.16 billion. The group, just under 60% owned by Colonial, was carrying net debt of €1.12 billion, little changed over 12 months, and thus had a loan-to-value ratio of 34.2%. The average cost of debt at 31 December 2009 was 4.6% and the average maturity was 3.2 years. Fully-diluted NAV per share at year end stood at €43.3, including transfer costs – down 15.5% from end-2008.