Explanatory Information on the Content of the Report and the Framework

Corporate reporting at Vonovia SE has already been subject to a process of ongoing enhancement for several years now to include matters extending beyond mere financial reporting and to broaden the perspective to include comprehensive reporting on developments within the company. This process is designed to take account of the key role that Vonovia plays in society at large and to address, and provide information for, numerous stakeholder groups. The most recent enhancement to corporate reporting relates to the Non-financial Declaration resulting from the entry into force of the CSR Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG) in 2017.

This chapter includes the required disclosures for the Non-financial Declaration pursuant to Section 289 a-e of the German Commercial Code (HGB) in conjunction with Section 315 b-c HGB (combined Non-financial Declaration). In order to avoid data redundancy, reference is made, where appropriate, to other sections of the management report that contain non-financial information.

As with other sections of this Annual Report, reporting in the Non-financial Declaration is also on a consolidated basis. This means that the company activities in Austria and Sweden – resulting from the acquisitions of (the former) BUWOG AG and Victoria Park AB in 2018 – are also covered by this Non-financial Declaration. In the first stage, this concerns the qualitative presentation of the non-financial information of the acquired companies. As the integration of the corresponding processes is still ongoing, however, the key performance indicators cannot be fully consolidated as yet. We will refer to the extent to which the key figures have been integrated in the following chapters.

The Non-financial Declaration is largely based on the structure of Vonovia’s Sustainability Report. This is, in turn, structured based on the GRI Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (as valid in 2016) in accordance with the “core” option. The Sustainability Report is also based on the Best Practice Recommendations on Sustainability (in its third version from 2017).

The Non-financial Declaration has to report on the main relevant non-financial performance indicators, their individual target values and the underlying concepts. This information is set out in the individual chapters, which are structured by content. Not all of the performance indicators included in this Declaration correspond to the GRI set of standards. Rather, some of them have been adapted to reflect the specific circumstances prevailing in the housing industry.

The Non-financial Declaration will be reviewed by the internal auditor of Vonovia SE on behalf of the Supervisory Board.

The Sustainability Report of Vonovia SE contains further extensive information on individual non-financial topics, as well as corresponding project examples and key figures. The Sustainability Report for the 2018 reporting year will be published in June 2019.

EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association)
The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) is a non-profit organization that has its registered headquarters in Brussels and represents the interests of listed European real estate companies. Its mission is to raise awareness of European listed real estate companies as a potential investment destination that offers an alternative to conventional investments. EPRA is a registered trademark of the European Public Real Estate Association.