8 February 2021

Arricano Real Estate Plc

("Arricano" or the "Company")

Resilient Occupancy and Visitor levels in 2020

Arricano, a leading developer and operator of shopping malls in Ukraine, is pleased to confirm that during 2020 despite the significant restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, its shopping malls continued to perform well, largely retaining their tenant base, attracting millions of visitors and adding international brands as new tenants.

As a consequence, total tenant turnover was only 10% below 2019 in local currency.

Throughout much of 2020, the government in Ukraine put in place restrictions to reduce human interaction to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures resulted in the partial closure of the Arricano shopping malls for between 52-81 days (depending on region), restricting visitor access to essential stores. Despite the temporary closure of retail stores and reduced access, the occupancy rate across the Arricano portfolio remained at 99%, the same level it has been since 2018.

Similarly, the number of visitors to the malls in 2020, including the periods of government restrictions, amounted to 33.1 million visitors, which is only 19% less than in 2019.  When the shopping malls were operating normally, visitor numbers only decreased by 5% compared to the same period in 2019.

During 2020, Arricano Group signed 89 new lease agreements covering a total area of 8884 sq.m., representing 6 per cent of the operating estate. New tenants include New Yorker, Flo and Decathlon.

Arricano anticipates releasing its final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2020 in late April. 

Anna Chubotina, CEO of Arricano, said:

"Arricano was impacted by Covid-19 but I am delighted the Company was still able to perform well. I believe this was down to the efforts of our teams who managed to keep the vacancy rate to just 1%, a resilient performance which reflects well on the appeal of the shopping malls. I am also pleased that we maintained visitor numbers at very high levels whilst implementing the extensive hygiene, security and cultural changes needed to keep everyone safe.

"Our focus on effective cooperation and partnership was heightened in this period and key to the further development of trust with our tenants, and consequently our ability to sign new cooperation agreements.

"All of which bodes well for the future."

Enquiries:

Arricano Real Estate plc

Tel:

Ganna Chubotina

Nominated Adviser and Broker:

WH Ireland Limited Chris Fielding

Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 1666

Financial PR:

Novella Communications Limited Tim Robertson/ Fergus Young 

Tel: +44 (0)20 3151 7008