News and Press Releases

First Property Group Chief Executive Ben Habib gives an interview to Polish retail news specialist Retailnet.pl, in which discusses the recent economic and health crisis. 

“The Polish government must be praised for how it handled the current crisis,” he says. “They reacted quickly, and help was directed primarily to those sectors of the economy that suffered the most.”

Chief Executive Ben Habib appeared on the Market Musings with Fairbairn & Russell podcats, to discuss his career in business and the history of the company

“Since 2007, First Property Group… has had a cumulative growth in net assets of 25 percent per annum… from the peak of the last boom to the current position,” he told the presenters.

On the @MarketMusing podcast, @FpropPlc Chief Exec @benhabib6 says:

“Since 2007, First Property Group… has had a cumulative growth in net assets of 25 percent per annum… from the peak of the last boom to the current position.”

Listen in full here 👉https://t.co/jH7yNxYL8P pic.twitter.com/NKu4az4Pht

— First Property Group (@FpropPlc) May 6, 2020

First Property Group Chief Executive Ben Habib writes a column in The Property Chronicle magazine explaining why he continues to invest in Poland.

“The country continues to tick all the boxes; a virile economy, prudent spending, and sensible management of the COVID-19 crisis have maintained my faith in this economy, which I started to invest in back in 2005,” he writes.

“And amazingly, they are already able to start easing the crippling lockdown restrictions imposed across the continent, beginning last week. This is critical, as those countries which emerge earliest and with good balance sheets will do the best.”

Simon Thompson analyses First Property Group’s recent announcements on sales we’ve completed, new leases we’ve signed, and our share price. The columnist reports the sale of our share in the CH8 tower in Warsaw “generating an eye-catching internal rate of return (IRR) of 63 per cent since its acquisition in 2014” and argues “there is still a glaring valuation anomaly still to exploit…”

He adds: “Effectively, you are getting a free ride on these investments and a fund management business that manages £602m of third-party assets even though the company has a track record of outperformance, delivering an IRR of 25 per cent (including dividends) since 2006.”

Simon Thompson: Stock picking value open to future gains https://t.co/MaKbWKZ26N

— Investors Chronicle (@IChronicle) May 4, 2020

First Property Group PLC, the property fund manager and investor, announces the sale of its [50.3] per cent interest in the CH8 Tower – also known as Chałubinskiego 8 – in central Warsaw for €44 million (£38 million).

Chief Executive Ben Habib argues the deal reflects the strength of Poland’s economy as commercial property transactions hit record rates ahead of coronavirus crisis. The sale nets Group their largest ever cash windfall of £16.7 million (€19.6 million), substantially increasing their future purchasing power into the hundreds of millions.

“Cash in on a free ride” Simon Thompson points out that if the sale of CH8 completes that “after the repayment of the bank loan secured against it, First Property will receive €19.6m (£17.8m) of cash proceeds to boost its proforma cash pile to £26.4m, a sum that is only £2m shy of the company’s market value of £28.5m. Non-recourse borrowings will be slashed to around €52m (£47.3m), secured against the remaining eight directly held properties that are worth €70m (£63.6m). Effectively, you are getting a free ride on the £16.3m equity in the eight remaining directly held properties even though they generate an annualised yield of around 10 per cent on market value, significantly higher than the 1.84 per cent average annual interest charged on the debt, so produce strong cash flow. You also have a free ride on First Property’s investments in 10 of the 13 funds it manages…worth a further £30.3m. The depressed market capitalisation also fails to attribute any value whatsoever to the asset management business which should generate an operating profit of £2m on £4m of management fee income in the 12 months to 31 March 2020.”

Fprop opinion on Polish & Romanian property markets.

Simon Thompson: “First Property’s shares are back in bargain basement territory. Buy.”

Listen to audio

Fprop CEO Ben Habib discusses the Group’s financial results in the six months to 30 September with Victoria Scholar

Fprop opinion on Polish & Romanian property markets.

First Property Group’s CEO Ben Habib explains what’s happening in the market with ReachX Contributing Editor Gaurav Sharma.