VBL plc - Interim Results

On 28 August 2023, VBL plc published its interim financial statements covering the six-month period ended 30 June 2023.

Revenues grew markedly by 64% to €1.47 million compared to €0.89 million in the first half of 2022. Furthermore, VBL generated an additional €0.34 million in investment income. The increase in revenue is driven by an improvement in hospitality operational performance, in the context that 87% of the Group’s revenue is hospitality related.

On the expenditure side, VBL’s net operating expenditure was 50.8% higher at €1.43 million (H1 2022: €0.99 million) as a result of higher administrative expenses and cost of sales. Consequently, VBL’s operating profit for the period was €0.38 compared to a loss of €0.1 million in the corresponding period last year. Excluding depreciation and amortisation charges of €0.15 million, VBL’s EBITDA for the period amounted to €0.53 million (H1 2022: €0.05 million).

After accounting for net finance costs of €0.12 million (H1 2021: €0.03 million), VBL recorded a net profit of €0.26 million compared to the net loss of €0.13 million incurred in the first half of 2022.

The Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2023, when compared to the corresponding figures as at 31 December 2022, shows that total assets remained relatively unchanged at €77.6 million. The majority of the assets (96.1%) consisted of investment property having a book value of €74.6 million. Total liabilities decreased slightly by 1.2% to €13.7 million from December 2022, mostly driven by lower levels of trade and other payables. Total Equity increased minimally to €63.9 million which translates into a net asset value per share of €0.257.

Outlook

In their commentary, the Directors explained that the interim performance was in line with expectations and the tourism performance in the period. Furthermore, they commented that VBL’s development projects are on track despite previous interim delays that have occurred and may occur again in the future. The directors identified current market challenges such as obtaining competitive financing for long-term projects as well as labour market shortage in the hospitality sector. In addition, they elaborated that VBL has taken several mitigating actions to resolve the aforementioned market challenges and that they consider all long-term projections to be achievable and not overly ambitious.