Sponda - Company Announcement

Sponda Plc’s strategy and strategic goals

Sponda Plc      Stock Exchange Release 3 September 2013 at 9:05 am


Sponda Plc's strategy and strategic goals


On 3 September 2013, the Board of Directors of the property investment company
Sponda Plc confirmed the company's new strategy. The main goals of the strategy
are simplification of the business structure, more focused property ownership
and profitable growth. 

Focal points for growth will be office properties and shopping centres and
property development serving these segments. As for areas, Sponda will focus on
prime areas in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, particularly in the central
business district and Ruoholahti, as well as Tampere. 

The most significant changes to Sponda's current strategy are that Sponda is
planning to exit both the Russian market and the Real Estate Funds business in
the next 3-5 years. In addition, the company is planning to sell its entire
logistics property portfolio as well as property ownership in Turku. In order
to make the operations clearer, the name of the Office and Retail Properties
segment will be changed to Office Properties segment. 

Sponda is planning to exit the Russian business operations in 3-5 years' time.
This means that no new investments will be made in the region and current
properties, most of which are located in Moscow, will be sold when market
conditions allow. 

In the Real Estate Funds business unit, no new real estate funds will be
established. Those existing funds in which Sponda has minority holding will be
managed as before until the end of the term of each fund. Depending on the
fund, the term will end between 2014 and 2019. 

The capital to be released will be invested in Sponda's main markets in
Helsinki and Tampere. Investment objects include both property development
projects and office and shopping centre properties. 

Sponda's prospects for 2013 remain unchanged. The company's long-term goals for
equity ratio and dividends also remained unchanged: 

  -- The Group's goal is to attain a 40 per cent equity ratio.
  -- The company aims to pay a stable dividend. The dividend is approximately 50
     per cent of the operational cash earnings per share for the financial
     period, taking into account, however, the economic situation and the
     company's development needs.

Kari Inkinen, President and CEO, comments:

“Simplification of Sponda's business structure increases the company's
attractiveness as an investment object. I believe that by focusing Sponda's
property portfolio on offices and shopping centres in Sponda's traditionally
strong areas, we can improve the occupancy rate of our properties and further
strengthen our market position in growth areas in Finland. 

In the current market conditions, the leasing of office and retail properties
requires more special expertise than before, and I believe that our operational
focus plan will fulfil exactly this need. 

Profitability has been good both in the Russia and the Real Estate Funds
business units. However, achieving sufficient growth in these business units
has been challenging, and their share of the entire Group's revenue has
remained fairly small. Consequently, we have decided that investing the capital
tied up in these business operations into Sponda's main markets in Finland is
an efficient solution.” 

Sponda has arranged a conference call in English for analysts and investors to
take place today, 3 September 2013, starting at 10:30 EET. You can participate
in the call by calling the number +44 (0)20 7038 9550, code: 936112, and watch
a webcast at http://qsb.webcast.fi/s/sponda/sponda_plc/ 



Helsinki, 3 September 2013
Sponda Plc


Board of Directors



Additional information: Kari Inkinen, President and CEO, tel. +358 400 402 653



Sponda Plc is a property investment company that specialises in commercial
properties in the largest cities in Finland and Russia. Sponda's business
concept is to own, lease and develop office, retail and logistics properties in
environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value
of Sponda's investment properties is approximately EUR 3.3 billion and the
leasable area is around 1.5 million m².