In 2021 ended the period of validity of the previous Strategic Plan, which was based on hypothesis formulated before the spread of the pandemic and the onset of the Covid-19 emergency.
However, our assets have withstood the stress test of the pandemic well, confirming that physical proximity retail, when it has the characteristics of modernity, innovation and professional management, is resilient and still offers ideas for projecting growth.
In December 2021 we presented the new 2022-2024 Business Plan which has as primary goal the proactive management of the assets in order to prepare them for the future and the new market challenges.
“The Business Plan 2022-2024 shows that we are strongly committed to ESG factors, to investing in the innovation and digitalization of our shopping centers. At the same time, we have set important economic-financial goals for ourselves, resuming payment of dividends to our shareholders while also reducing financial leverage, as well as consolidating the investment grade profile we have achieved”
Claudio Albertini, IGD’s CEO
In fact, our strategy expects returning to organic growth based on sustainability and innovation.
The strategy is based on 4 operational areas:
The idea that IGD could act as an aggregator of new assets, potentially even from different sectors, in order to further expand its property portfolio by leveraging on IGD’s know-how and greater economies of scale to create value is still valid, market conditions permitting.
During 2022 and 2023 the geopolitical and macroeconomic scenario significantly worsened, with an increase in interest rate curves that led to an increase in the Group’s financial charges, as well as the loan to value due to the devaluation of IGD’s property portfolio; this new scenario showed a significant deviation from the assumptions used in the 2022-2024 Business Plan.
Therefore in January 2023 IGD announced to the market that some of the targets to 2024 set forth in the Business Plan presented on 14 December 2021, with particular reference to FFO and dividends, were no longer achievable.
However, all the strategic and operational guidelines set forth in the Business Plan in the areas of sales, marketing and sustainability, as well as the investment plan, to which the commitment to implementation is maximised, remain confirmed.
In 2022 and 2023 we continued to operate in line with the Plan, both in terms of operational choices, advancing the important investment projects in the pipeline, and for liability management objectives, and looking at the results, we can affirm that the efforts we made to remain consistent with the guidelines of the 2022-2024 Industrial Plan have proved rewarding:
Aware of its SIIQ status, IGD has always been committed to providing its shareholders with attractive and sustainable returns in line with the results achieved.
But in light of the loss recorded by the parent company IGD SIIQ SpA at year-end 2023 (which waives the distribution requirement) and the terms and conditions of the note “€300,000,000 Fixed Rate Step-up Notes due 17 May 2027”, which prohibits IGD from distributing dividends in excess of what necessary to comply with the SIIQ regulations, IGD’s Board of Directors proposed to the Shareholders’ Meeting, to be held on 18 April 2024, not to pay dividends for 2023.
This difficult decision is linked to the challenging context characterized by high interest rates, which have led to an increase in the financial charges incurred by the Group, as well as to over 110 million euro devaluation of IGD’s property portfolio over 2023.
The global market conditions and the strategy we are adhering to make us believe that it is reasonable to assume that IGD will soon be able to return to being a dividend company for its shareholders. The new Board of Directors, which will be appointed during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on April 18, 2024, will determine the best path for IGD to follow in order to make the most of its resources.
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