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ABLV Bank's subsidiary New Hanza Capital closes 2017 with profit of EUR 7.99 mln

BC, Riga , 27.02.2018.Print version
New Hanza Capital, a company of the ABLV banking group for investments in commercial property, closed 2017 with a profit of EUR 7.99 mln, according to the unaudited annual financial statements submitted to the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange.

New Hanza Capital said the profit was mainly due to the growth of rental income and the value of the property portfolio.


The group's revenue last year was EUR 1.64 mln, soaring 263% against 2016, EBITDA was EUR 8.44 mln, and the cash flow from operating activities amounted to EUR 0.38 mln.


In 2017 the number of investment properties owned by New Hanza Capital increased by three office buildings in Riga with the total rentable area of over 22,000 square meters.


Another addition to the investment property portfolio was the logistics complex in Riga, consisting of 12.55 hectares of land and three buildings constructed in the past ten years with a total rentable area of 27,800 square meters. There are also low-value buildings, which are expected to be demolished in order to free up 7.5 hectares of land for further development.


The average occupancy rate in the portfolio properties at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 was 85.05%. Office premise occupancy was 69%, whereas warehouses and small retail areas achieved a nearly 100-% occupancy.


On October 18, 2017, New Hanza Capital received EUR 10 mln raised through a bond issue. The annual interest rate of the bonds is fixed: 4.9% with coupon payment twice a year. On October 19, 2017, the bonds were admitted to the regulated market by inclusion in the Baltic Bond List of Nasdaq Riga.


As to the recent developments concerning ABLV Bank, which is the largest shareholder of New Hanza Capital, particularly the payment restrictions imposed on the bank by the Latvian financial regulator, these have not had an impact on the bonds issued by New Hanza Capital. The company's ability to meet its obligations under the issued bonds remains unchanged. Tenants in the group's properties are not related to the ABLV group, and there was no change in the tenant payment discipline. According to the secured loan agreements on the group's properties, tenants pay rent fees into the Group accounts with banks that issued the respective loans, New Hanza Capital said.


New Hanza Capital is a company founded in 2006. The biggest shareholder of New Hanza Capital is ABLV Bank, owning 88% of the company's shares.


As reported, the Latvian financial regulator, the Finance and Capital Market Commission, acting on the instructions from the European Central Bank (ECB), has ordered ABLV Bank to stop all payments as of February 19 following a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of Treasury about ABLV Bank's involvement in international money laundering schemes and corruption.


At the end of September 2017, ABLV Bank was the third largest bank in Latvia by assets. The bank's majority shareholders Olegs Fils, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne own, directly and indirectly, 87.03% of the bank's share capital.






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