MADRID, 17 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Colonial Group obtained a net result of 28 million euros in the first quarter of the year, which represents an increase of 32% compared to the same period last year, also exceeding the number of office space contracts prior to the outbreak of the pandemic of coronavirus.

Specifically, the socimi listed on the Ibex 35 formalized 27 office rental contracts with a total space of 51,661 square meters in the first three months of 2022, a figure 74% higher than that of a year ago, as reported in your quarterly income statement.

The trend of the company in recent years pointed to an annual contracting figure of about 100,000 square meters, so that only in the first quarter of the year has it achieved half of this figure. In addition, the rise compared to the same period in 2019 is more than 60%, when it contracted 32,000 square meters.

This improvement in activity is supported by the progress made by the company in its project portfolio and the acceleration of the renovation program, substantially improving rental levels.

In this sense, the additional income from the projects delivered in 2021 stands out, such as the Diagonal 525 asset -Naturgy headquarters in the financial district of Barcelona- and the Marceau asset -Goldman Sachs headquarters in the business center of Paris --.

Thus, rental income was 82 million euros, 4.1% more, driven by the increase in rentals of the main portfolio, supported in turn by the indexation in contracts after the growth of inflation.

The reduction in financial expenses has also contributed to the improvement in results, which has led to savings in the average financial cost of the group's debt, as well as the execution of the acquisition of a 16.6% stake in Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL) in 2021, its French subsidiary.