Argan FY24 Results and feedback from Analyst meeting

Argan held its FY24 analyst meeting (physical) in Paris in French. The FY24 results were slightly better than our expectations on EPRA net profit. The presentations were entertained by both father and son Le Lan as well as the CFO and others. Next to the FY24 results, a lot of time was spent on characterising the group activities and the strategy towards 2030. In fact, 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of Argan. Argan will invest around 170m over FY25-26, mainly financed by selling older assets (arbitrage). Argan guides for LTV% to decline to 29% by 2030. However, the company believes it can increase dividend by 5% annually at 60% pay-out. We believe that the LTV reduction is mainly aimed at the FY26 bond refinancing and could pivot higher to accelerate growth afterwards. The company will also replace the historic mortgage debt for bank loans. We believe the market underestimates the quality of the portfolio and the high barriers to enter France. The new ZAN-law favours the incumbent logistic companies.