DGAP-News: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG / Key word(s): AGM/EGM
W&W Group pushing ahead with future-oriented projects
09.06.2016 / 15:02
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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The Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group (W&W) is continuing to pool its
forces. On the one hand, the specialist for financial provisions is moving
decisively to put construction financing under one roof. On the other, it
is expanding its new company campus. These projects were presented at the
Annual General Meeting of W&W AG, which took place in Ludwigsburg today. In
the meantime, new business is developing positively, entirely in the spirit
of the growth programme "W&W@2020".
The construction financing business will be processed by Wüstenrot
Bausparkasse AG in future. As a result, the construction financing business
of Württembergische Lebensversicherung AG and of Wüstenrot Bank AG
Pfandbriefbank will be transferred to the building society. The building
society will, subject to approval by the supervisory authorities, make use
of the options afforded by the new home loan and savings law.
The transition is expected to take place within a year and to lead to
substantial synergies: the elimination of interfaces, lower settlement
costs, IT simplifications and the freeing up of capital. The staffing
effects still need to be clarified with the works councils of the affected
companies.
As a result, the Wüstenrot Bank can then fully concentrate on its new role
as a digital transaction bank. This concerns current accounts, card
services, fund brokers and online activities.
New company campus with some 4,000 modern workspaces
In another respect as well, the W&W Group is relying on the pooling of its
forces: in the consolidation of workplaces at the company's Kornwestheim
location. The W&W campus is scheduled to be completed by 2023 in an
additional construction phase. Until now, completion in two additional
phases had been contemplated. The basis for this construction phase is the
revised draft for the campus prepared by the architecture firm Ortner +
Ortner Baukunst. This envisions five additional office buildings with 2,800
workspaces. In addition, at the northern tip of the W&W campus, taking the
place of a 12-storey high rise, there will be an office building based on
the standard layout of the campus building units. This has an inviting
effect and signifies transparency. With a structural opening onto an
interior courtyard with a multi-storey lobby, this northern building will
mark the entrance structure. Work on the second phase is scheduled to begin
in 2018, and over the ensuing five years, all new buildings are to be
completed and occupied one after another. The first two new buildings
should be ready for occupancy on schedule at the start of 2017. The
investment volume for the second construction phase amounts to about EUR
280 million, and as a whole, the new campus will cost about EUR 410
million.
For more than 10 years now, W&W has been committed to consolidating
operations into a single company. For the first time in the 17-year history
of the financial services group, the new campus will offer a central
location for both the administrative and operational units of both large
divisions. Short pathways, more direct communication, more solidarity will
result. The Group is doing away with the complexity of the existing
building situation, with a variety of satellites in Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg,
Kornwestheim, and Karlsruhe and highly diverse architectural languages, in
favour of a clear architectural structure. The new campus stands for the
reduction of complexity and for greater homogeneity, and it leaves the
outdated office landscape, which in many cases was badly in need of
renovation, far behind it.
Dr Michael Gutjahr, W&W Executive Board member in charge of personnel:
"With the new campus, we will be able to offer a total of 4,000 modern
workspaces at the Kornwestheim location in just a few years, which will be
state of the art in technological and architectural terms, make flexible
forms of working possible and complete our consolidation into a specialist
for financial provisions."
Review of the residential use of the Feuersee site
Parallel to the progress on the campus construction, the W&W Group is
currently reviewing whether its location at Feuersee in Stuttgart-West can
have a stronger residential use. For this purpose, it has commissioned a
feasibility study and is in contact with the municipality. However, the
internal W&W bodies have not yet decided on the conversion of some of the
office spaces into residential rental housing. This primarily depends on
the legal feasibility and the economic viability of the project. If the
course is set in this direction, residential use cannot be expected until
2021, at the earliest.
The Feuersee location has total floor space of 32,000 m2. Currently, 27,000
m2 are being used by about 1,200 employees. By rededicating use in some
cases and dividing the project into three construction phases
(Johannesstraße, Gutenbergstraße and Senefelderstraße), some 200
residential units could be created. At the same time, however, existing
building stock will continue to be used as offices. The project is related
to the above-described "W&W Campus" project.
Units are already being gradually relocated from Stuttgart to Kornwestheim/
Ludwigsburg, which would likewise be the case in the event of stronger
residential use of the Feuersee location in Stuttgart. The background to
the campus concept is, first, pushing ahead with the consolidation of the
Group and, second, creating modern office worlds that enable flexible forms
of working and offer attractive workspaces. At all locations there is an
urgent need for renovations, which is further underscored by the
construction plans.
Dr Michael Gutjahr: "We have the choice of modernising our buildings at
Feuersee as either office or residential properties. What is certain is
that on account of the housing shortage in Stuttgart and our tradition as a
housing financier, we are reviewing whether we can make a contribution to
urban living through a corresponding change of use."
Financial year 2015 with record figures - strong start in 2016
At EUR 274.3 million, the financial services group posted the highest net-
income figure in company history in 2015. With profits rising by about 15%
to EUR 62.6 million, the success story continued in the first quarter of
2016. Details about the previously published business figures were shared
with the shareholders today at the meeting in Ludwigsburg, and it was
proposed to them that the dividend for the 2015 financial year be increased
from EUR 0.50 to EUR 0.60 per share.
The results for the first quarter of 2016 also give the W&W Group grounds
for optimism, and consolidated net income for 2016 is now expected to top
EUR 220 million, depending on how the capital markets develop and the
occurrence of extreme weather events.
Growth was also able to be achieved over the ongoing course of the current
financial year. To mention just two examples, gross new business in home
loan and savings rose by nearly 20% to some EUR 5.7 billion from January to
April 2016, and gross premiums written by Württembergische Versicherung
grew by 2.5% to EUR 918 million, which was above the market average. The
solid development in corporate customer business had a positive impact
here.
The losses due to the current severe weather patterns "Elvira" and
"Friederike" amount to EUR 35 million for the W&W group, according to
current calculations, but the reinsurance has relieved this noticeably. The
Württembergische Versicherung is currently working on helping affected
people and businesses in the fastest and most straightforward way.
Success story to be continued
With regard to business performance, CEO Dr Alexander Erdland remarked at
the Annual General Meeting: "We were able to achieve this only because of
our employees and tied agents, and their tireless efforts. Stronger growth
is of great importance to the attractiveness of our jobs."
There is continued cost pressure in the industry, he said, also as a result
of persistently low interest rates. At the same time, said Erdland, the W&W
Group is in the midst of confronting the challenge of fundamentally
overhauling the established IT landscape. According to Erdland, the task is
to push forward with cross- and up-selling across various sales channels,
as well as with digitalisation, which constitutes the core of the new
growth programme W&W@2020. Roughly EUR 650 million will be invested in the
programme by 2018.
At the Annual General Meeting, Erdland emphasised people's basic need for
financial provision: "It's up to us to give better answers compared to
former and new competitors, in order to continue Wüstenrot &
Württembergische's success. The strengths that others do not possess as we
do can only come from our group as a whole. We can, we must, and we will do
more about this."
Increased attention on stock
In recent months, W&W stock has garnered significantly greater attention as
a result of W&W's solid, future-oriented business model and a roughly 20%
increase in free float in 2015. For instance, over the course of nearly one
year, monthly trading volume jumped from about EUR 2 million to EUR 15.5
million. In addition, on 1 December 2015, W&W stock was admitted to the
Prime Standard by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This created the conditions
for inclusion in the SDAX index, which was accomplished on 21 March 2016,
enabling W&W AG to join the largest stocks listed on the SDAX. Analysts
have in recent weeks given W&W shares a "buy" recommendation and consider a
price above EUR 25 to be appropriate.
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09.06.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Language: English
Company: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG
Gutenbergstrasse 30
70176 Stuttgart
Germany
Internet: www.ww-ag.com
ISIN: DE0008051004
WKN: 805100
Indices: SDAX
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart;
Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf
End of News DGAP News Service
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470563 09.06.2016
DGAP-News: W&W Group pushing ahead with future-oriented projects
| Source: EQS Group AG