Pan European expansion and stronghold Germany lead to an absolute record in leasing and construction activity

Download Press Release

Regulated Information

5 January 2022, 8:00pm, Antwerp, Belgium: VGP NV (‘VGP’ or ‘the Group’), a European provider of high-quality logistics and semi-industrial real estate, has seen a strong performance of its development and leasing activities in 2021 in all markets where the Group is active.

The 2021 performance was characterised by:

  • €79.7 million signed and renewed lease agreements (versus €45.2 million for FY20, +76% YoY), bringing total annualized rental income to €256.1 million (+38.3% YoY , in addition to that VGP signed letters of intent over new future leases representing circa € 30 million of annualised committed rent income if and when converted to lease agreements.
    • 1,478,000 m2 under construction – 1.7x the level of Dec 2020 – representing €93.9 million in additional annual rent once fully built and let (currently 83.8% pre-let)
    • 652,000 m2 of new projects added to the completed portfolio, now at 3.09 million m2 (4% let)
  • Expansion of land bank secures future growth
    • 4,04 million m2 of new land positions acquired and a further 3.98 million m2 committed subject to permits
    • Total land bank acquired and committed has grown to 10.94 million m2 (+43.0% YoY) which provides at least 5 million m2 of future lettable area
  • Started operations in France, Serbia and Croatia and eyeing further expansion in other continental European countries including Sweden, Greece and Denmark
  • Launched fourth joint venture with Allianz Real Estate with an investment capacity of €2.8 billion and first closing anticipated in second half of 2022
  • Strong capital position following completion of €300 million capital increase on 24 November 2021
  • Consolidated financial results for FY2021 are scheduled for publication on 24th of February. The Annual Report 2021 is scheduled to be published on 12th of April

VGP’s Chief Executive Officer, Jan Van Geet, said: “Our 2021 operational performance was underpinned by a surge in demand resulting in a record number of new leases signed : in the course of one single year to the same amount as to what our entire rent roll four years ago consisted of –  with as predominant drivers space required for the adoption of new technologies and the rise of e-commerce.”

Jan Van Geet continued: “Due to our growing and readily available land bank, we have been able to start-up many iconic mostly fully pre-let projects this year – including our VGP Park Gießen Am alten Flughafen, Berlin Oberkrämer, Budapest Aerozone and Sevilla Dos Hermanas, and significantly expanded – again mostly pre-let – construction works in many existing parks, including in Bratislava, Magdeburg and Nijmegen. Yet, at the same time we have been able to make important investments into land and redevelopment opportunities that will drive our Group’s future prospects through 32 land acquisitions in the course of 2021, and 41 committed land plots.  Due to the successful capital raise conducted in November and the new joint venture announced last week with Allianz we are set to continue to be able to seize more of such prime opportunities and look with confidence into 2022.”
Jan Van Geet added: “Last year, we made significant progress on our sustainability agenda as we further enhanced our building and reporting standards, are working on several DGNB Klima Positive pilot projects, switched all VGP offices to green energy and our foundation agreed to support 30 projects around environment, social engagement  and cultural heritage preservation .

Jan Van Geet concluded:  I want to end by thanking our colleagues and partners. The contrast between the hardship imposed on all those continued to be affected by COVID-19 and the very high level of client-led demand for logistics created a challenging and complex environment for all of us at VGP to navigate. I owe all the members of the VGP Family a great deal of gratitude.”