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Intrinsic Value is all-important and is the only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.
Intrinsic Value is all-important and is the only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.
Good morning, and welcome to PATRIZIA. We published our financial results for the first 3 months of 2023 today, and I would like to share with you some of my personal takeaways.
It is probably not a surprise for you, the market environment for investing in real estate and infrastructure remain challenging for our clients and for us in the first quarter. The interest rate environment and the second drop in transactions globally continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
Looking at our financial results. This had an impact on 2 of 3 revenue streams: transaction fees and performance fees. Both showed real declines, with a substantial decline in transaction fees, although on already low absolute levels. However, the largest and most important pillar of our revenues continued to deliver solid growth even in the current environment.
Recurring management fees increased 14% year-over-year to around EUR 62 million. This was driven by organic growth as well as positive impact from 2 M&A transactions closed in 2022, now fully contributing to our revenues in 2023. Management fees more than offset the market-driven declines in other fees, so that total service fee income showed resilience with a 1% increase year-over-year.
Revenues from own account investing were down 66% year-over-year, fully in line with our expectations and fully in line with our strategy as an asset-light investment manager. Despite the full consolidation effect of Whitehelm Capital and ADVANTAGE Investment Partners, we were able to lower our net operating expenses by 5% compared to last year.
Why? Well, we were able to show the first positive effects from the strategic reorganization executed last year. We continue to focus on cost efficiency. And we further streamlined our activities with the profitable disposal of one of our tech participations.
Summing it up. Our EBITDA increased by 3% year-over-year to slightly above EUR 27 million. So we are currently well on track to reach our full year guidance range of EUR 50 million to EUR 90 million.
The assets we manage for our clients showed resilience over the last few quarters, with AUM up 5% year-over-year to EUR 58 billion. Compared to the end of last year, AUM declined slightly by 2%, primarily due to market-driven valuation effects.
That said, what is unchanged is our strong balance sheet, with over EUR 370 million of available liquidity and our net equity ratio of over 70%. This gives us flexibility on corporate level to seize market opportunities wherever and whenever they will arise.
In our operating investment management business, available firepower of around EUR 4 billion and our globally diversified client base puts us in a good position to accelerate investment activities for our clients once opportunities arise. It might take a while until pricing expectations of buyers and sellers come close enough to revive transaction activity in the market overall.
We expect this to happen in the second half of the year, but selected sectors within real estate and infrastructure will be early movers and lead the way. This is why diversification is so important. The latest deals for our clients in fiber networks in the U.S. and Spain during the first quarter of 2023 are just 2 examples of the strong investor demand for infrastructure and smart city solutions, besides the ever-growing interest in digitalization and decarbonization.
Local expertise and understanding the asset and its future value drivers are also more than ever key ingredients for future success, besides best-in-class research capabilities. We have both the platform and the track record to guide our clients through the current rough orders. both in real estate and in infrastructure.
Let me summarize. Our EBITDA showed resilience and moderate growth in the first quarter, driven both by the growth of recurring revenues and effective cost management. PATRIZIA is well-diversified, financially healthy and a strong and reliable partner. The market environment is still challenging, but situations like these will offer opportunities for investment managers like PATRIZIA.
If you would like to discuss this further, our Investor Relations team very much looks forward to your calls and to continue discussing our equity story and outlook in the months to come. Thank you for your attention, and speak soon.