Today the Board of Directors of IGD – Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione SIIQ S.p.A.(“IGD”or the “Company”), one of the main players in Italy’s retail real estate market and listed on the STAR segment of the Italian Stock Exchange examined and approved theInterim Management Statement at 31 March 2017 during a meeting chaired by Elio Gasperoni.

POSITIVE FINANCIAL RESULTS CONFIRMED (FFO +10.2%)

Total consolidated revenue amounted to around €35.4 million, up 4.6% compared to the same period of the prior year.

More in detail, rental income rose 3.9% to €33.9 million explained by:

• for around €0.4 million, like-for-like growth (+1.3%) in Italy. Malls were up (+2.0%) and hypermarkets were in line with the prior year; impact of inflation continues to be marginal
•  for around €0.9 million, higher revenue not like-for-like (Centro Maremà in Grosseto inaugurated at the end of October 2016)
• for around €0.1 million, higher revenue like-for-like in Romania(+6.8%)

Growth was also recorded in revenue from services (+21.4%) which amounted to €1.5 million.

Core business Ebitda amounted to €25.0 million, up 5.8% against 31 March 2016. Operating costs fell further as a percentage of core business revenue causing the core business Ebitda Margin to rise by almost 1 percentage point against the prior year to 70.7%. The freehold Ebitda margin came to 79.9%, an increase of 70 basis points against March 2016.

Financial expense fell 2.3% to €9.1 million, despite the increase in average debt linked to the investments and acquisitions made in the period (Maremà in Grosseto was purchased at the end of 2016): the result is attributable to the recent liability management activities, as well as the decrease in the notional amount of a few IRS. The downward path of the average cost of debt was confirmed (3.1% vs 3.3% at 31 March 2016).

The Group’s portion of net profit amounted to €14.3 million, an increase compared to the €12.7 million posted in the same period 2016 (+13%).

Funds from Operations (FFO) rose 10.2% against the first three months of 2016 to €15.6 million. The Group confirms the growth targets for FY 2017 disclosed in February (+18/19% at year-end 2017).

The IGD Group’s net financial debt came to €1,046.8 million, up with respect to March 2016 (984.2 million) as a result of the investments and acquisitions made in the period mentioned above. At the same time the capital structure ratios like the gearing ratio (0.95x) and loan to value (47.9%) improved slightly.

OPERATING PERFORMANCE

The positive trend in pre-letting reported in prior quarters continued: in Italy 36 contracts, renewals and turnover, were signed with an average upside of +3.8%; in Romania 134 contracts were renewed with an upside of +2.8%.

The sales of mall retailers slowed in the first 2 months of 2017 due to both the calendar effect (1 weekend and a Sunday closure in January, as well as one day less in February) and the weather conditions (in January there were heavy snowstorms in central Italy), but were more than offset by the excellent performance recorded in March. Retailers’ sales in Italian malls rose +1.1%, while footfalls were down 2.7% against the prior year. Footfalls in Romania were steady (+0.6%).

Average occupancy was stable, reaching 97.2% in Italy and 96% in Romania.