R?sultats pour le 1er semestre 2005 : Le r?sultat net part du groupe de COLONIAL atteint 230,4 millions d'euros au premier semestre 2005

Des cessions d'actifs et des marges plus importantes dans tous les secteurs d'activité ont entraîné une très forte croissance du bénéfice du groupe : ce dernier augmente de 1 339 % en glissement annuel.

- Colonial's revenues total E610 M, or 370% more than in H1 2004.

- Asset sales and all business lines' revenue and margin improvements fuel 1,339% net profit expansion.

- Rental income totals E143 M, or a 178% increase, thanks not only to inclusion in the scope of consolidation of SFL — a company purchased last summer — but also improved marketing activity with office rental contracts signed for more than 108,000 sq.m.

- New developments begin at Vallecas (Madrid) and Sant Cugat (Barcelona), contributing to 55% home sales growth vs. H1 2004.

- Group ends June 2005 with a 45% loan-to-value (LTV) figure, so achieving its goal of reducing this figure to less than 50%, two years ahead of schedule.

- NAV per share reaches E40.63, after a 9.8% increase against December 2004 and 19.1% on June 2004.

- Furthermore, Colonial's market capitalisation exceeds E2.4 billion, thanks to a 49% share price re-rating in the first half of 2005.

Barcelona, 21st of July 2005.

Colonial recorded E230.4 M attributable earnings in H1 2005, or 1,339% growth on H1 2004. The group achieved this spectacular expansion thanks to asset sales in its Barcelona, Madrid and Paris markets and significant improvements in all business lines' revenues and margins.

Results

Expansion on all income statement lines

The Colonial group's revenues have reached E610.1 M, some 370% more than the previous year's E129.8 M, thanks to growth in all group business lines. Notable among these was the property business, which recorded E143.1 M revenues thanks to the contribution from Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL). Divestment of the Barcelona 2 complex, furthermore, fuelled asset sales of E334.5 M.

In parallel, the residential development and land business contributed E132.5 M.

The Colonial group's EBITDA equalled E379.0 M, after a 627% improvement from the previous year.

All the above took the Colonial group's net attributable earnings to E230.4 M in H1 2005, with a 1,339% improvement on the previous year's figure. Meanwhile, earnings per share expanded by the same percentage, to E4.11.

With no significant asset sales expected for the second half of this year, the Colonial group expects to obtain E250-260 M net profit for full-year 2005.

Asset valuation exceed E5.3 billion

The SFL acquisition has enabled Colonial to position itself as the euro zone's benchmark in the office rental market. The group's assets were valued by CB Richard Ellis at the end of H1 2005 at E5,351 M. Some E4,281 M or 80% of this relates to rental assets, which are located exclusively in the markets of Paris (57%), Barcelona (23%) and Madrid (20%). The remaining E1,070 M (20%) corresponds to the residential development and land business.

Colonial's strategy of positioning itself among high-quality office buildings in central business districts has been rewarded by this asset type's growing appeal among investors, as reflected by H1 2005's significant 9.8% increase in the group's NAV, to E2,276M. Meanwhile, the NAV per share expanded in the same proportion, to E40.63 per share.

Share price re-rates by 49%

The Colonial group's consistent business trends continued to attract investors in H1 2005. The 49% share price re-rating in the first six months of 2005 took the company's market capitalisation to more than E2.4 billion.

Rental business

Margin improvements accompany 178% rental income growth

In the first half of 2005, the Colonial group's rental income advanced by 177.6% to E143.1 M. Some E88.6 M of this figure was generated in France and the remaining E54.5 M in Spain. At 84%, most of the revenues were from office buildings, which on like for like terms posted an average 5.1% expansion across the three markets.

In parallel to the rental business's revenue growth, its efficiency also improved to 80.0%, from H1 2004's 77.7%. This allowed the business line's EBITDA to reach E114.4 M, or a 185.7% improvement on June 2004.

These healthy rental income developments occurred in the context of a modest upturn in the three major markets where the Colonial group is present, namely Paris, Barcelona and Madrid. Together with the company's strategic positioning on these markets' best and most central business districts, this factor enabled group property's overall occupancy to improve to 92.3%, from the H1 2004's 90.1%.

Lettable surface area exceeds 1.2 million sq.m.

In H1 2005, the Colonial group's commercial activity took the form of contracts agreed for approximately 108,000 sq.m. More than 78,000 sq.m of this was for renewal of existing contracts, while there were new contracts for surface area entering into operation in the first six months for around 30,000 sq.m.

New agreements signed by the group in the six months include significant operations like letting 13,000 sq.m in the Capitán Haya building in Madrid to Spanish National Lottery Company (Administración de Loterías y Apuestas del Estado) and more than 4,000 sq.m to the Citibank group in Paris's Paul Cezanne building.

With the above, the Colonial group was operating 1,230,000 sq.m of gross lettable area by the end of H1 2005. Some 80% of this related to office buildings, 12% to logistics centres and the remaining 8% to commercial premises and residential rental assets. In June 2005 it had above 1,150,000 sq.m in operation, while about 80,000 sq.m corresponded to the group's projects in progress, representing E150 M investment.

Assets sales at prices 13% above valuations

The Colonial group's progress in its plan to sell mature and non-strategic assets continued in H1 2005. Noteworthy in this respect was the sale of the Barcelona 2 property complex, representing divestment of the last and most emblematic housing rental complex in the group's real estate assets.

Total asset sale revenues came to E334.5 M, of which E208.7 M relates to properties located in Spain and E125.8 M to Paris. Sale proceeds were 13% above the assets' valuations in December 2004.
Residential Development and Land Business

Excellent margins on more than E130 M in land and housing sales

The housing and land sales booked totalled E76.5 M and E56.0 M respectively, or E132.5 M altogether and some 98.7% more than in June 2005. Healthy revenue performance was accompanied by a still greater improvement in business margins, again placing them among the industry's best.

The residential activity's favourable revenue and margin performance altogether enabled the group to record stunning EBITDA growth for the residential development and land business through a 773.3% increase, to E70.2 M.

In parallel, commercial housing sales in the first half of 2005 came to E113.8 M or 55% more than the previous period's E73.3 M. This growth was favoured by important new developments like the extension of Villa de Vallecas in Madrid and Can Matas in Sant Cugat (Barcelona), which are now beginning to be marketed.

Land bank of more than 800,000 sq.m in the most sought after areas.

In the six first months of the year, Colonial began new developments covering 274 homes in Sant Cugat, Sabadell (Barcelona) and Girona.

Meanwhile, the land bank at end-June totalled 810,000 sq.m. This is distributed between Madrid (31%) and Catalonia and Valencia (69%).

Financial structure

At the end of H1 2005, the company's net financial debt came to E2,486M. As a result, the gearing ratio of net debt to the market value of assets equalled 45%, or significantly less than the 62% level straight after the SFL acquisition in June 2004.

With an above E800 M debt reduction in the last 12 months, the Colonial group has reached its Strategic Plan's objective for this ratio — of less than 50% by 2007 — two years ahead of schedule.

Dividend and Stock Market Information

The stock market has taken due note of the strategy implemented by the Colonial group and its share price re-rated by 49% in the first half of 2005, taking Inmobiliaria Colonial's market capitalisation to above E2.4 billion.

In the course of H1 2005, Colonial's share was also welcomed into the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 and Ibex Medium Cap benchmarks, so contributing to larger average daily trading volumes, of 185,000 shares, or 16% above H1 2004's average.

And lastly, Inmobiliaria Colonial distributed a final dividend of E0.606 per share in May 2005, representing a 10% increase on the final dividend distributed in May 2004.