VIB Vermögen AG makes positive start to the 2011 fiscal year

VIB Vermögen AG, a company specialising in commercial real estate portfolio management, generated revenues of EUR 12.9 million at Group level in the first three months of 2011 on an IFRS accounting basis. When taking into account EUR 0.5 million of other operating income, the VIB Group generated total operating income of around EUR 13.4 million. After deducting operating costs, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) stood at EUR 9.4 million. This generated an approximately 70% EBIT margin, which is above the sector average and reflects the high profitability of this real estate company based at Neuburg/Danube, Germany. Interest expenses totalled EUR 4.7 million in the first three months of 2011, thereby allowing the VIB Group to generate pre-tax earnings of EUR 4.7 million.

After deducting taxes on income, the VIB Group's consolidated earnings amounted to around EUR 4.0 million for the first three months of 2011.

Ludwig Schlosser, CEO of VIB Vermögen AG, was correspondingly satisfied with the promising trend in the first quarter of 2011: "A further improvement in the macroeconomic environment allowed us to successfully continue the last few years' operating success story. We have achieved a further profitability enhancement compared with the 2010 record year, when we generated a 67.8% EBIT margin. We would very much like our shareholders to participate in this positive development. For this reason, we will propose to the AGM to be held on July 7, 2011 that a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share be paid. The tax-free portion of the dividend will amount to around 45%."

In the assessment of Managing Board member Peter Schropp, who is responsible for the real estate area at VIB Vermögen AG, there are grounds for further optimism with respect to the current business year: "We enjoy the best preconditions to achieve a further record year in 2011 with our highly profitable portfolio that currently comprises 86 properties, and a total rentable area of around 661,500 m². We aim to place a greater strategic focus on targeted acquisitions in order to secure attractive returns also on a prospective basis, while at the same time maintaining our existing, stability-oriented financing structure. We anticipate total revenues of EUR 52 million for 2011. We also aim to boost earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to around EUR 36 million, and pre-tax earnings to approximately EUR 18 million.