Last checked at 
2 Jun 2021 07:00
2 June 2021
Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited (the "Company" or "PSD")
Further share buy-back programme
The Board of Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited (LSE: PSDL.LN), the UK listed investment company specialising in German residential real estate, notes that the share price continues to trade at a material discount to Net Asset Value. As at 1 June 2021, this discount stood at 17%[1], a level that the Board believes does not reflect the track record and performance of the underlying Portfolio and the positive outlook following the removal of the Berlin rent controls.
Over the past five years the Company has delivered an average total shareholder return of 29% per annum. During the financial year ended 31 December 2020, when faced with the twin challenges of COVID-19 and the unconstitutional introduction of rent caps, PSD was still able to deliver an EPRA NTA total return of 8.8%.
The Board wishes to ensure that the share price better reflects the intrinsic value of the Company's portfolio and its future prospects. Since October 2019, the Company has bought back 5.1% of its shares in issue as part of a buy-back strategy designed to limit the downside risk to the share price. However, reflecting the renewed confidence in the outlook for the Company following the ruling by the German Federal Court that the Berlin rent controls were unconstitutional, the Company now intends to adopt a more proactive buyback strategy in order to take advantage of the valuation discount and to seek to ensure that the share price better reflects the underlying net asset value.
The Company will, with immediate effect, make a material allocation of capital to the buyback programme funded through a combination of existing cash balances, refinancing, condominium sale proceeds and the disposal of non-core assets. The Board believes this allocation can be achieved without compromising the organic growth prospects of the company, which are based on reversionary re-letting, the preparation and sale of new condominiums and the construction of new attic living space.
It is intended that purchases of shares under this proactive share buy-back programme will commence immediately.
For further information, please contact:
Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited Stuart Young
| +44 (0)20 3937 8760 |
Numis Securities Limited (Corporate Broker) David Benda
| +44 (0)20 3100 2222
|
Tulchan Communications (Financial PR) Elizabeth Snow Oliver Norgate
| +44 (0)20 7353 4200 |
[1] Based on EPRA NTA as at 31 December 2020 of €5.28, a closing share price of £3.80 on 1 June 2021 and a GBP / EUR exchange rate of 1.16 as at 1 June2021