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. Since the scenario was so different from the one assumed, in August 2020 IGD communicated to the market that the targets of the 2019-2021 Strategic Plan were no longer to be considered current, although the strategic guidelines aimed at consolidating the leadership of its shopping centers in their respective catchment area remain valid.
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, growing the recurring net profit and 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
After two difficult years due to the implications that the covid pandemic has had on the business, the next three years will be dedicated to consolidation and a return to growth. 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.
Aware of its SIIQ status, IGD is committed to providing its shareholders with attractive and sustainable returns in line with the results achieved in the past.
In 2020 in light of the loss recorded by the parent company IGD SIIQ SpA (which waives the distribution requirement) and with a view to safeguarding financial stability and the investment grade profile, the dividend for the year ended on 31 December 2020 wasn’t distributed.
This difficult decision is to be viewed as one-off and unforeseen, triggered by the exceptional circumstances that developed as a result of the pandemic; in fact, IGD’s Board of Directors proposed to the Shareholders’ Meeting, to be held on 14 April 2022, to distribute a dividend that offers an attractive remuneration to its shareholders.
In the next 3 years IGD will become again a dividend company with a distributions that are expected to grow over the life of the plan: it is intention of the management to propose a dividend distribution of € 0.25-0.30 in 2022, and subsequently increase the pay-out until reaching €0.50 per share in 2024*.
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