(AOF) – Icade announces that the S&P Global agency has lowered the outlook for its BBB+ long-term credit rating from “stable” to “negative”, “in a context of pressure on the Promotion activity and adjustment of valuations of Tertiary Property assets more marked than anticipated. The rating agency also adjusted the thresholds of Icade’s financial ratios for a BBB+ rating.
It now sets as objectives a debt-to-debt plus equity ratio of less than 40% (vs. “towards 35%” previously), taking into account the positive influence of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations; a debt to Ebitda ratio below 8.5 and an ICR ratio above 3.8.
These last two objectives are unchanged. Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations is the reference shareholder of Icade with 39.2% as of December 31, 2023.
The real estate group took note of these adjustments and reaffirmed its desire to maintain a rigorous and prudent financial policy, a pillar of the ReShapE 2024-2028 strategic plan, presented on February 19, 2024.
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Sector sheet – Business services
A new entity in employee benefits
Pluxee, the division specializing in employee benefits of the services giant Sodexo, will take off on the stock market in 2024. This activity benefits from strong dynamism with organic growth in the third quarter (ended at the end of May) higher than expectations (+25 .5% versus 17.5% expected). The new entity will thus be able to better compete with its competitor Edenred. Since its split from the Accor group in 2010, this company has seen its activity jump and almost double. Having become the world leader in meal vouchers, it even recently joined the flagship stock market index of the Paris market, the CAC 40. This success comes from targeted acquisitions, international development and successful digitalization.
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A demand crisis
According to data from the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), the figures for the third quarter of 2022 continue to be alarming. Sales of new collective housing fell by 12.4% over one year, to 19,006 units. Over the first nine months of 2022, the drop reached 10.2%, to 72,670 units.
Reservations are also plummeting due to the collapse of block sales to social landlords and institutional investors. With interest rates rising, institutional investors are renegotiating or halting operations. First-time buyers are penalized by the rise in rates and the tightening of the Pinel system puts off certain private investors.
Due to the sharp rise in construction costs, the FPI estimates that one in six authorized operations is ultimately not carried out for economic reasons.
Faced with this, prices are still rising: the sales prices of new collective housing increased by 5.9% across France in the third quarter of 2022. Ile-de-France is an exception, with a decrease of 0. 9%.