In the 2022/23 financial year, rental income increased by kCHF 382. On the one hand, the decrease in vacancies due to full occupancy of three of our six properties had a positive effect of kTCHF 555. On the other hand, the regular expiry of leases had a negative impact on the rental income of kCHF 157. Accordingly, the contractually expected rental income decreased slightly from CHF 9.1 million to CHF 9.0 million as at the balance sheet date.

Below is an overview of the five largest tenants, which generate 48.6% of rental income.

The future rental income from non-cancellable rental agreements as at the balance sheet date is categorised as follows:

As a rule, the leases are indexed contracts with a term of 5 to 10 years. Some rental agreements contain options for early termination of the rental relationship (included in the categorisation above). In addition, there are unlimited rental contracts amounting to kCHF 597 (previous year: kCHF 567) with notice periods of between 3 and 6 months.

As in the previous year, the real estate expenses directly attributable to the investment properties correspond to 3.9% (previous year: 3.8%) of the rental income.

While non-recoverable service charges in 2021/22 were positively impacted by non-period one-off effects amounting to CHF 33k, the same one-off effects showed a negative impact to the same extent in fiscal year 2022/23. As a result, the non-recoverable service charges were CHF 55k higher than in the previous year.

Personnel expenses could be reduced by kCHF 744 compared to the same period last year. This is in particular due to staff changes that were already initiated in the previous year. As at 31 March 2023, a total of five people were employed (previous year: six).

Other personnel expenses include expenses for lump-sum expenses of employees and members of the Board of Directors. This item also includes the fee for Directorsʼ & Officersʼ Liability Insurance, costs for recruitment, and expenses for further education and training of existing staff.

Administrative expenses decreased by kCHF 92 or 10.2%. This is mainly due to the kCHF 57 reduction in project-specific consulting costs related to real estate acquisition projects and one-off effects in the area of corporate communications in the previous year.

Other income

The other income of kCHF 7 results from insurance reimbursements. In the previous year, other income was (kCHF 143) was influenced by the payment of a written-off insolvency claim in the Dutch company Züblin Real Estate Holding NV (meanwhile liquidated) and by a subsequently realised purchase price adjustment in connection with the sale of the German portfolio in 2017.

The financial expenses mainly relate to mortgage interest. Compared to the previous year, these have increased by kCHF 26. At the same time, commitment interest included in this item decreased in the course of previous year’s refinancing, i.e. the reduction of the credit line from CHF 120 million to CHF 100 million. The increase in SARON however, led to higher interest expenses for mortgages.

Income tax

As in the previous year, no current income taxes were incurred in the financial year 2022/23.

In 2022/23, expenses for deferred income taxes of kCHF 896 were significantly lower than in the previous year (kCHF 3 268). The lower valuation gains on investment properties essentially led to a lower allocation to deferred taxes compared to the previous year. In addition, an allocation in the amount of kCHF 804 was required in the previous year for deferred taxes on temporary differences in connection with investments in subsidiaries.

The following table provides a reconciliation of income taxes at the reference tax rate to the income tax reported in the income statement:

Income tax reconciliation

Estimates are necessary for the determination of current as well as deferred taxes. These assumptions relate to the following:

Current tax

The Züblin Group is subject to taxation in Switzerland as well as in the countries were its subsidiaries operate. The determination of the provision for current taxes in these jurisdictions requires significant judgment by Group Management, as the final tax position of many transactions and calculations is unclear.

Deferred tax

Capital gains tax is included in the calculation of deferred taxes on investment properties in Switzerland. These taxes are dependent upon the holding period of the assets, which is determined as follows: for properties that are held for sale, the actual holding period plus one year has been used. For all other properties, either a period of fifteen years, or the actual holding period plus one year if greater than fifteen years, has been assumed. Assumptions are also necessary for deferred tax assets from tax loss carry-forwards. These losses are only capitalized when the use of the losses in the future is probable. The determination as to whether such losses can be offset in the future is based on estimates of the future cash flows deriving from the property, together with estimates by Group Management on the likelihood of utilization of these loss carry-forwards in future periods. Based upon these factors, a probability is assigned to each potential asset and subsequently valued and recorded.

Züblin Immobilien Holding AG has no equity instruments which would lead to a dilution. The average number of dividend-bearing shares is calculated under consideration of the 2 380 treasury shares.