Investor Relations Activities, Analyst Assessments and Dividend
Investor Relations Activities
In 2019, Vonovia participated in a total of 25 investors’ conferences and organized 32 roadshow days in the most important European, North American, Middle Eastern, and East Asian financial centers. In addition, Vonovia took part in various investor forums and numerous one-on-one meetings and conference calls were held with investors and analysts to keep them informed of current developments and special issues. In 2019, we spoke to around 350 analysts and investors. In addition to questions about Vonovia and our investment strategy in major European cities, the main topics covered by our capital market communications in the reporting year included our investment program and German rent regulation.
In the fall of 2019, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board Jürgen Fitschen conducted a Corporate Governance Road Show together with the Head of Investor Relations for the second time to discuss corporate governance at Vonovia with eight of the company’s largest institutional investors. The event saw two topics emerge as being particularly relevant to the company’s shareholders: the Supervisory Board (composition, skills profile, etc.) and Management Board remuneration. Although corporate governance road shows are becoming increasingly popular at listed companies, they are not yet common practice. The response to the transparent information on how corporate governance is put into practice at Vonovia was very positive, and we intend to continue to organize these events at regular intervals.
This year’s Capital Markets Day was held on June 5, 2019, in Frankfurt am Main and the motto of the event was “Embracing a smart world.” 68 analysts and investors were able to gain an insight into how Vonovia is forging ahead with the issue of digitalization in order to boost customer satisfaction and make its business processes more efficient. The event included a deep dive into the issues of “Digitalization – Technical Property Management,” “Digitalization – Customer Oriented Services” and “Strategy Execution in Southern Germany.” Afterwards, participants were able to get an impression of two new construction/modernization projects in downtown Frankfurt, in the form of a property tour.
The Investor Relations team also organized and carried out numerous property tours for interested investors and analysts with colleagues from the operational areas of the company. The aim of these events was to provide the participants with firsthand insight into Vonovia’s real estate portfolio and processes. Investor Relations also held detailed presentations on Vonovia and the situation on the German residential real estate market at informational events for private shareholders.
In 2020, we will continue to communicate openly with the capital market. Various roadshows, conferences and participation in investor forums have already been planned. Information can be found in the Financial Calendar on our Investor Relations website. https://investors.vonovia.de
Positive Analyst Assessments
As of December 31, 2019, 27 international analysts publish studies on Vonovia on a regular basis. The average target share price was € 53 as of December 31, 2019. Of these analysts, 74% issued a “buy” recommendation, with 19% issuing a “hold” recommendation and 7% recommending that investors sell the company’s shares.
For information on the banks that report on Vonovia and value its shares, please visit our website at https://investors.vonovia.de/analysts
Attractive Dividend
The continuity of our business strategy is also reflected in our dividend policy. Our aim is to distribute around 70% of our Group FFO to our shareholders. As far as the 2019 fiscal year is concerned, we plan to propose a dividend per share of € 1.57 to the Annual General Meeting, which represents an increase of 9% as against 2018. Our shareholders have the option of choosing between receiving the dividend in cash or in shares. Last year, approx. 46% of our shareholders opted for the scrip dividend, which we interpret as evidence that our shareholders expect Vonovia to be successful in the medium and long term, too.
Attractive Dividend
