Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the NSI Preliminary Results 2023 Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, please press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Alternatively, you may also submit your questions via the webcast at any time by typing them in the question box and click Submit. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Laura Gomez Zuleta, Head of Investor Relations, Treasury and Business Development. Please go ahead. Good morning, and welcome to NSI Preliminary Results for 2023 call. I will now hand over to Bernd Stahli, CEO, who will give a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Thank you, Laura. Good morning, everyone. Looking back, 2023 was an important year for NSI. It was a very intense year, with a reset on the development pipeline, a serious restructuring to prepare for the FBI changes in 2025, and the whole process of the strategic review. Fortunately, we've never had to worry about the balance sheet in that process. Operationally, 2023 could not have been better. We've been able to convert healthy occupational demand into a record low vacancy of 5.2%. We've had seven point four like-for-like rental growth, and we've had been leasing ahead of ERV, rising ERVs. Positively, as we go into 2024, the result of our efforts is that NSI is once again back on the front foot. The many positive details in the presentation today should confirm this to you. If we go to slide 7, it shows the journey that we've been on over the last couple of years. Keywords, concentration, better assets, better locations, and higher efficiency. Slide 8 shows that the asset rotation continued in 2023. Notwithstanding the difficult market environment, we managed to sell assets on average, 20% above book value. Looking at the deal that we've done for 2024, and we'll talk about it in more detail later. For Laanderpoort, and upfront, I can tell you there will not be a capital gain. We booked it at a sales price of EUR 24 million at the year-end, so there is no capital gain on Laanderpoort to be expected during 2024. Slide 9 shows what the portfolio looks like today. We will again touch on it in more detail later, but the 7.9% gross initial yield is a yield that we've not seen for a long period of time. And if you compare it to our own history, it's higher than we've had for a long period of time, and it's a different portfolio now than what it was back in 2017 to 2018. So for us, this is all sort of element of a reset and an adjustment that we've had to go through, but it makes us actually today be in a very good position. I mentioned before that 2023 was a good year operationally. Slide 10 points out the slightly lower WULT, and I think that's the beginning of a trend in offices more generally to be expected, where leases are going to get shorter. It also means that the dynamics of offices are changing. It is becoming a much more operational asset class. It means you need to be much more hands-on, and that you need to sort of also organize yourself, and you have the mentality to deal with that. And as you can see, and that's why we pointed them out next to each other, we've managed to keep the vacancy low. In fact, we've actually achieved the lowest vacancy rate over the last 20 years or so, the lowest level that we've had since 2005. So the operational side of the business and the more operational nature of the business hasn't had any impact on the way we've dealt with our vacancy. That you achieve because you actually take care of your customers, you provide them with the right level of services, but also with the right level of assets in the right locations. And that comes back in tenant satisfaction, which has gone up. And therefore, because we're actually offering the right product in the right markets, we've also seen our ERVs go up, and we've been leasing ahead of ERV. Actually, all of that, very good results, and we're pleased with that, as we go into 2024. Basically, slide 11 shows you an example of how you get there. Taking your customers seriously, giving them exactly what they need in terms of location, sustainability, services, amenities, flexibility, and activation of buildings, results in buildings where you can actually achieve, as you can see here, with two examples of HNKs that we're working on at this point in time, where we're achieving 13%-14% new letting levels above ERV. Our clients are happy with us. The 7.8 is not a score that I, at the university, but as a company today, that's a very good result. And for all the shortness of leases and the turnover of leases that we've seen and the discussions about tenants that are about to walk away, you can see for our managed offices, which have a contract length of typically about a month, our occupancy is back to where it was pre-COVID. We're now at 90%, and that is more or less where we expect it to be. So again, people that want to move, can move, will have moved in our HNK, and they're deciding to stay because the product meets their needs. I think that's a key element to discuss at some point later, with you on a call. Valuation-wise, slide 12. This is the part where we've got very little control over what happens. We've seen significant outward yield expansion, and that's been the major driver of our valuation decline in 2022. The peak to trough for us is now 21%. The yield movement out has been pretty indiscriminate. Everything has sort of been moved out because of lack of liquidity, and I think that indiscriminate nature of the yield expansion that we've seen is also something where the opportunity in the period ahead may emerge. It's not just offices, even our life science assets in Leiden, they're down 15%. Famous last words, but given the movement we've seen in interest rates since the end of last year, we're sort of sensing we've seen the worst. Not necessarily, could maybe drift a little bit lower, but today's valuations are closer to the bottom than we've seen for a long time. Slide 13, development. We've had to adjust our plans in the face of what were difficult market conditions. At beginning of last year, 2023, we already announced the postponement of Well House because the economics didn't make sense. And we basically, since this half year stage, have been communicating that we were in discussions with ING to improve the economics of our contract, to make the business case more viable. That's been a long discussion, and we're now in a situation where we decided that the best way forward for us was to exit the development. It would have been a EUR 200 million project, which on a EUR 1 billion balance sheet is 20%. It's a lot of risk. It's a large project. Arguably, in fairness, at this point in time, too large for NSI. And the benefit of it is that with this price, where we're quite pleased with the result, we've now been able to release a lot of capital to the business that can be utilized elsewhere in the business in a more profitable way. When we started back in 2019, this was a project with a normal margin. As the yields fell, this would have been a very profitable project. As the yields moved out, this went from very profitable to marginally profitable to possibly even loss-making. There was no value for us to continue deploying capital for a period of 2 years for a project that wasn't going to make a lot of money. So this was actually the best result. ING gets the building at once, and we get to move on. Having said that, that's actually a quick shout-out to the development team, this is not something you do quite easily. Projects that basically change hands typically fall still for a longer period of time because the new buyer needs to figure out what he owns, what the risks are, and what the position is of that development. The fact that we've been able to hand it over to ING gives you, should tell you that we've basically delivered a project that was genuinely ready to go, where all the risks were properly mitigated. And therefore, yes, we haven't built it, but actually, as a development for us, as a, that has been a success. Vitrum, we mentioned to you before that as long as the legal process continues, we need to make sure that we get some income out of it. That has now been taken care of. The building has been let to someone that is going to lease it on a flexible basis, which gives us the opportunity to pursue the legal process, and if and when we get all the approvals that we need and the economics make sense, we will start to look forward again to a redevelopment of that asset. The slide also shows development remains a core competency to the business, and I think that is a point to make. Maybe no longer the larger projects that we've sort of been talking about, like Laanderpoort. That is 20% of your balance sheet. That is in one individual project, that is maybe too much. But there are going to be opportunities in our portfolio, redevelopments or otherwise, where we think we can still make a difference by executing our knowledge and capabilities in this field. It may well mean that we bring in additional capital, JV capital, private capital, to bring it forward. And it could well be that, like with Laanderpoort, rather than building it ourselves and owning it, it may end up being sold at some point, if we feel that we've made the most out of the opportunity. So it is a part of the business. It should be part of any office business to at least do an elements of this type of activity, on the margin or on the side of the business. But for us, we're actually quite pleased with where we stand today. Slide 14. A lot of detail on sustainability. We can go into the detail if you want, but at some point, I think it should become clear that we've done everything that we should have done over the last couple of years to make the business more sustainable. The graph top right shows that it's not been something that we've been doing for the last two years, but it's been a long-term journey for us in getting our sustainability credentials, and also actually delivering the value add. We're a sector leader in GRESB. Our EPC labels are 95% A, and that's probably going to be the legal requirement from 2030 onwards. So we're basically six years ahead of time. We're pretty much where the market will want to be at that point. CRREM and energy intensity, I think that is going to be the number that most people will focus on going forward. Again, we've made small steps, and we've got plans to continue on that journey for the period ahead. So far on the operational portfolio valuation side, slide 16 is maybe a slide that you've not seen from us before, and that's correct, because it's only new today that we've restructured to prepare for a post-FBI world. Lots of new detail, and my advice to you would be to read it again later, as there's lots to absorb here. Just to make clear, NSI N.V. is still a BV, FBI. It will stay so in 2024, and it may even stay so beyond 2024. The one thing that has changed is that our assets today are now held outside the FBI, so they are starting to pay some tax. All in all, due to the restructuring, we will be paying a total of about EUR 2 million in tax during the period 2023-2024, and that includes some one-off costs to a total. Basically, see it as an investment of EUR 2 million to obtain close to EUR 40 million in deferred tax assets, which will help to reduce and mitigate the impact of FBI changes in 2025 and beyond. I think that's the key message you should be walking away from today. While the impact on EPRA EPS is simple, there's just a little bit of tax to pay on the direct results, it's probably harder to understand and interpret the impact on our EPRA NTA. We checked with EPRA, and there aren't that many companies that have positive deferred tax assets. What the market will make of it, we'll see. We've given you all the details for you to figure out what you think the NTA is. EPRA needs to include the deferred tax assets, but we've also given you the pre-tax NTA, in the slide here for you to figure out what you want to do with that. Slide 17, 18, 19, and 20, they're self-explanatory. Slide 21 shows our debt profile. We have no issues until mid-2026, and given our very steady business and low LTV of 31.5% pro forma for the disposal of Laanderpoort, we expect no issues either. So balance sheet-wise, we're actually in great shape. That leaves us with the outlook. I think we can generally say that everything that could have been thrown at us has been thrown at us over the last past four years, starting with COVID back in 2020. We're not alone. Everyone in offices, everyone in real estate has had an adjustment to go through. It's been a painful reset for some, including ourselves, but we've done what people should expect from us, i.e., keep our head down and just deal with it and try to come out stronger. We've done that. And so, as I said at the beginning of the presentation, we're now back on the front foot. It feels good, it gives energy, and it gets everyone at NSI excited for the period ahead. We think we've got all the elements in place to drive differential performance from here. Key in all this is the team. A team I'm totally proud of. That said, the market is still in a state of flux. Prices have corrected, and with our balance sheets, this provides room for, to pursue opportunities. But we're not in a rush. Few deals that we have seen come to the market so far have been of interest to us. In fact, at this time, the existing portfolio is still the most attractive investment that we see, which is why now, with Laanderpoort and its capital commitments gone, we feel comfortable to commit EUR 20 million to a share buyback. Details on that will follow in due course. With that, I would like to hand it back to Laura to open it up for Q&A. Thank you, Bernd. We will now be opening it up for Q&A, and you can ask your questions either through the platform or the phone. Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question on the phone line, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click submit. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with the first question. The questions come from the line of Francesca Ferragina from ING. Please ask a question. Your line is opened. Hello, good morning, everybody. Many thanks for the presentation. Can you give some more colors on the assumptions behind the guidance, maybe in terms of top line and financial charges? And also, can you make a little comment about dividend policy for 2024? Many thanks. In the guidance for 2024, I think your starting point could very easily be the earnings that we've had this year, EUR 2.01. We've given you the detail that our tax rate in 2024 is gonna be slightly higher than 2023, and therefore, that difference in tax rates automatically reduces the earnings to somewhere EUR 1.95, EUR 1.94. The sale of Laanderpoort has virtually no impact on our guidance because it wasn't income producing, it wasn't the standing assets. In fact, if anything, it's a small positive that we're bringing EUR 24 million back into the business. That is gonna be, basically, utilized again. There is very little indexation. The lease contracts that we have, that most of our thirty percent of our leases are indexed in January, and the indexation in January was 0.2%. So, if you take into account that we're gonna get a little bit of indexation, you can sort of see why the range is so more or less, slightly lower than where we were for 2023. On the dividend policy, I think we've done the reset. I wouldn't expect many changes from here. Hmm. Okay. That's clear. And maybe changing arguments, would you say a little word about the type of conversation you have with the governments around FBI going forward? It's the FBI changes that were previously indicated have now been voted through Parliament, so that's a given. From 2025 onwards, we will no longer be able to invest directly in real estate as an FBI, which is why we've done the proactive and preemptive restructuring in 2023. The government did make a statement back in the end of 2023, that is looking at the possibility to create or revive a new regime, for, to be competitive in a European context. We need to find out what they mean and what that how that could work and if that actually works, and which is why in the results, in the CEO comments, I did say, flowers only at the finishing line. Yes, nice that they're having conversations, but first, see, then believe. Yeah. Understood. Many thanks. Yep. Thank you, Francesca. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question, and the questions come from the line of Vincent Koppmair from Degroof Petercam. Please ask your question. Your line is open. Morning. Good morning, Bernd. Thank you very much for the presentation. I had a couple of questions just quickly. You mentioned clients were more demanding now, and since offices and the new market dynamics have changed, do you believe then, then going forward, if there's more demand from clients, that overall margins or net rental income margins could decline? I'm not sure I see the link directly between the one statement and the lower margins. What we see is that, as clients are getting more demanding, they want to make sure the space is really, that fits their needs. So it needs to be hitting all the right, details with respect to fundamental, environmental, data. It needs to be sustainable. It may require them to... It may need them to basically, let's put it differently. Some tenants that are now looking for shorter leases will not be able to fit out economically, their space, in that they can't depreciate the fit out costs over a shorter period of time. It may mean that we're going into a world where we need to spend a bit more time on preparing the space and making it sure it's also basically fitted out for them to step in immediately. It changes the dynamic because it means that some of the burden with respect to investment in the space comes towards us as a landlord, and typically, tenants are paying a premium for that, and we're going to see how that works out economically. I think it could actually be an opportunity, but it's too early to tell. Okay. Very clear. No, indeed, you answered the question. Is the contract structure then also slightly different for more of these shorter term leases? No, not necessarily. Okay, clear. In H1, you mentioned that you identified more or less EUR 150 million of assets you would consider to dispose of. Is that still the case? Do you still consider them, or is that slightly changed? The ING is not part of the EUR 150 million. That's separate. The EUR 150 million is still there, and it's basically the strategy to get focused more and more on Amsterdam. So we have still some provincial assets that we think it's better to redeploy the capital to a market with longer term, better growth dynamics, which is Amsterdam. So far, we've done not much out of that pocket of assets, but that's also a reflection of current market conditions. There is very little liquidity at this point in time, and we're not in a need to pursue it at all costs, so it will happen when the market is right. Okay. Very clear. I had just two more additional questions. Previously, you mentioned indeed that you're looking at potential of joint ventures to go then maybe on an acquisition spree in the future. Do you already have potential candidates for those joint ventures with whom you're talking to? This is something. Last year, we've had other things on our mind in terms of dealing with restructuring, strategic reviews, and the development reset. This is the objective for this year, to see what our options are. Obviously, up until now, there's been very little we could have done with respect to the FBI legislation. So it's a journey for 2024 and beyond. It's not a promise it's going to happen this year. We'll see. The fact that there is little capital also means there's very little JV capital at this point in time. So don't read it as something that is going to be imminent. Of course. Okay. Very clear. And then, I just had one last question. Of course, at the end of, H1, there was change in CFO. From my understanding, current CFO is more interim situation. Is there an update on that? ... Good question. We indeed now have a contractor on an interim basis that basically has stepped in to fill the void. The process to find a new CFO is underway. We thought we had a candidate, and then literally five minutes to twelve, that ended up not being the case, so we've had to restart the process, and therefore assume it's gonna take a bit of time before we get our act together on this. Okay, very clear. And then just my last question, I promise. Since you've disposed of Laanderpoort, would this also mean you would consider selling a Vitrum in Well House for the right price? All our assets are for sale at the right price. Okay. Very clear. Thank you very much. Have a nice day. Thank you. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question comes from the line of Kaare Vågen from Nordea. Please ask a question. Your line is open. Morning. Good morning. I just have two quick questions. So, given the sale of Laanderpoort and the loss of your tax status, would you consider doing a larger capital return than the EUR 20 million buyback? The buyback we're doing today is our response to the capital release that we've had as a result of the sale of Laanderpoort. I think it's too early to see how the cycle evolves from here to be able to make a call how we are going to deploy the remainder of that capital. Okay, I understand. And, what was the valuation of Laanderpoort at half year end, 2022? I think actually, if you look at the numbers, and I'll... We've had a small positive on 2022. No, actually, we've got a small positive on the mid-year stage. I think everyone that goes into our website and finds the detail, you can see an acquisition cost somewhere in the EUR 30 million. If you do the analysis, we've gone from a acquisition plus CapEx spend on the project, minus all the rent collected and adjusted for the sales price. I think total ownership loss over that period was about EUR 6-7 million. Okay, thank you. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question's come from the line of Vincy Ilie from Kempen. Please ask your question. Your line is opened. Yeah. Good morning. Thank you for the presentation, and thank you for taking my questions. First one, on the Well House development, I know this is suspended until further notice, but has your view on it changed even marginally, especially regarding economics? And then, more specifically, could you please comment what rent levels you could expect for it now? Again, has it changed over time, and what yield and costs that translate to currently? At this point in time, it's hard to argue, talk about a yield on cost, because all the variables are up in the air. To get this project going again, we would need to get a new land price quote from the municipality. We would need to get a new quote from the contractor, which we've not done. And therefore, rent levels, I think, probably somewhere EUR 550 a meter, even when we get to, based on today's assumptions on where the market is. But no, don't expect anything imminent. There's nothing happening anytime soon. Okay, thank you. The second and last question on NH, NHK, HNK. You mentioned that your signing lease is 13%-14% above ERVs. So, are these ERVs for managed offices or just traditional offices? Because I can imagine that ERVs for managed offices should be higher also, given the higher operational costs. Correct. But no, this is actually traditional leases. Okay, thank you. That's it from my side. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click submit. We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Kai Klose from Berenberg. Please ask a question. Your line is open. Morning, Kai. Good morning. Good morning. Just, two questions from my side. First one, if we compare the service costs not recharged to the gross rental income, 2023 was a bit higher compared to 2022. Was it a one-off, or is this a ratio we should expect, going forward? And the second question is, I couldn't find any details, I may have overlooked it, on letting volumes in 2023. Could you maybe split how much were new lettings and extensions? Thank you. First question on the service costs not recharged. During the year, our vacancy at year end was lower, but during the year, on average, we had a slightly higher vacancy. So actually there's a difference. And that actually has explained why we've had to incur some of it ourselves. And yes, because of the high indexation, we've had some gaps that meant that we've not been getting able to recharge everything to our tenants in some cases. On the letting side, we need to come back to you on that. I don't have the numbers at hand. No worries. Thanks so much. Sure. Thank you. We are now going to take our next question. It comes from the line of Vincent Koppmair from Degroof Petercam. Please ask your question. Your line is open. Hello. Sorry, I had a quick follow-up question. My question would just be, in terms of your EPS guidance that you gave, would this also include the impact of the share buyback? That's a good question. The answer is no, it's not in there yet. Okay. Thank you very much. That's all from my side. Thank you. We have no further questions on the phone line at the moment. Please continue. Sure. We don't appear to have any questions on the platform either, so I wish you all a good day, and thank you for having joined us. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you and have a good day!