There have been some big and exciting news at Sirius in recent weeks, but in this blog I want to take the opportunity to focus on our latest half year results.

Sirius announced another strong set of numbers and this represents the fruits of a great deal of hard work and dedication from all of the Sirius team. As I have written in previous blogs, I wanted to set out some answers to questions investors were particularly interested in during our recent conversations.  

Shareholder returns

Any results release is a raft of numbers and statistics, and you can read ours here – but one point I’d really like to highlight is the returns we’re delivering to shareholders. In this latest set of results we’ve managed to increase our dividend per share by 12%, meaning that we’re on track to deliver a shareholder return of 15% or more for the 6^th consecutive year.

It’s always been a key priority of ours to reward our shareholders for their continued investment, and it is really important that we are able to continue this trajectory.

It’s also a mark of our consistency, to be able to deliver this continuously throughout one of the most disrupted periods for the real estate industry and wider economy.

Credit to the team

This strong performance is, of course, thanks to the hard work and commitment of the team here at Sirius. It’s not lost on me that this has not only been a difficult time in which to work, but also one without opportunities for significant face to face contact and social events that we’ve previously enjoyed, so these efforts have been gratefully appreciated.

Political developments

In my last blog, published just after Germany’s most recent federal election results, I penned my predictions for where a newly formed government would be likely to head. This has also been a point of interest for investors and analysts at our recent results presentation.

With negotiations, as I currently write this, still underway, the outgoing government is effectively out of business with no incentive or electoral impetus to rock the boat with major legislation or amendments to COVID policy ahead of Chancellor Merkel’s departure, while the incoming coalition and Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be equally reluctant to take drastic steps for fear of starting in government from a low base of popularity.

As such, the SMEs that make up the backbone of Germany’s economy will continue to deal with uncertainty for some time, in the absence of a clearly defined agenda from the federal government. This is a time when flexibility and agility will be key, which is something we’re proud to focus on here at Sirius both from the perspective of our business, as well as our offer to tenants.

Inflationary worries?

A question that’s been on the minds of many investors lately has been inflation, and its potential impacts on Germany’s economy.

My view is that Germany has a strong balance sheet and policy mechanisms with which to deal with inflationary pressures. Moreover, the Sirius platform is flexible, and it can react to inflation driven price changes much faster than is the case with many landlords or passively managed portfolios, so we can adapt to the prevailing situation more dynamically than many of our competitors

It is also worth noting the origins of much of this inflation are supply chain issues, and nearshoring these supply chains is a potential solution. This in turn will fuel an increase in demand for out-of-town industrial space and that’s something we’re well placed to support through our portfolio as well as the flexibility of our offer to tenants.

Closing thoughts

This has and will continue to be a really interesting time here at Sirius, and we’re looking forward to continuing to make great strides in the near future.