DES GB2015 Englisch

What is more, the fast and continual gains being made by online shop- ping are intensifying the competitive situation in bricks-and-mortar retailing and in our shopping centers. This channel is currently absorb- ing much of the growth in retail sales. Retail sector Based on calculations from the real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, rental turnover on retail spaces leased in Germany decreased by 10% in 2015 to 524,700m2 , linked to increased demand for smaller spaces of up to 100m². The high demand for small spaces led to a decline in the average leased area to 490m² (2014: 590m²). With around 37% of rented floor space, textile retailers were the most significant demand group. Second place went to the catering and food industry at approx. 22%; health and beauty took third place with nearly 10%. Real estate market Transaction volumes rose again significantly by 38% (2014: 30%) to €55.1 billion (2014: €39.8 billion) according to figures from Jones Lang LaSalle, meaning that Germany’s commercial real estate investment market also continued to grow in 2015. Retail real estate accounted for 31% of the volumes (2014: 22%). Investments in German shopping centers totalled €5.6 billion in 2015 (2014: €2.0 billion) corresponding to nearly three times the amount in the previous year. This record result was influenced by Klépierre’s ac- quisition of Corio and the stake taken in mfi AG by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Market events were once again dominated by individual transactions, which roughly doubled in number compared with the previous year. The average purchase price of these 50 or so individual transactions in 2015 was in line with 2014 at €76.5 million, indicating that it was mainly smaller and medium-sized centers that changed hands. Foreign buyers dominated the retail property market in 2015, as they had the previous year. Although their share of the transaction volume fell from 65% to 57%, in absolute terms they acquired shopping centers with a value of €3.2 billion. This was two and a half times the level of 2014. As demand for shopping centers remained persistently high, peak yields for these investments fell further. According to estate agency data, yields on top properties in the core segment at year-end averaged around 4.0%, down 40–50 basis points year-on-year. Share price performance The Deutsche EuroShop share began 2015 at €36.47. Its low for the year of €36.32 was then reached as early as the second week of trad- ing, on 6 January. The share then embarked on an uptrend in an es- pecially positive market phase for real estate stocks, which took the price to its high for the year of €48.00 on 10 April 2015. This was also a new all-time high for the DES share. During the second half of the year, the share price fluctuated between €38.00 (following reports of a sharp slowdown in Chinese economic growth) and €44.00. It closed the year at €40.46, which represented a gain of +15.3% including div- idends (2014: +17.7%). Forum, Wetzlar MANAGEMENT REPORT 118 Deutsche EuroShop AG Annual Report 2015

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