Altarea lowers its 2023 dividend forecast

The group, which until then planned to offer its shareholders a dividend of at least 10 euros per share, now expects to offer a dividend "equal to 8,00 EUR per share with an optional component in securities of up to 75% of its amount, subject to the absence of an additional deterioration linked to a geopolitical, health or macroeconomic crisis", declared the group's founding president, Alain Taravella.

Its family holding company, as well as Crédit Agricole Assurances, which between them own two thirds of the company's capital, are committed to opting for payment in shares, which allows the company to preserve its cash flow.

The recurring net result (FFO according to its acronym in English), its reference indicator which measures its profitability, is expected “very clearly down compared to 2022 but significantly better than the trend for the first half of 2023”, according to a press release from the group .

Altarea, like all developers, suffered from the new real estate crisis, caught between rising construction costs and a fall in buyers' purchasing power.

To cope with this, the group has already largely scaled back its new land investments and is focusing on the flow of its current operations, despite the consequences for its turnover.

At the same time, it is diversifying everywhere: asset management, photovoltaic installations, data centers, etc.

Altarea also announces that it is carrying out a “thorough review of its land portfolio” which will lead it to abandon certain planned residential operations because they are “unsuitable for the new cycle”.

Over the first nine months of the year, its turnover fell by 11,1% year-on-year to 1,82 billion euros, led by residential and corporate real estate, while its commercial real estate , which rents commercial locations, fared better with turnover up 6,3%.

Its net debt increased by 385 million euros in one quarter, to 2,21 billion, due to the payment of the 2022 dividend and investments.