Increased Assets Under Management and Strengthened Organization
It is with great humility that I reflect on Catella’s achievements in 2024. Personally, my tenure as interim CEO has been an invaluable and deeply enriching learning experience. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of gaining insight into our collective expertise, getting to know our talented employees, and witnessing the strength of our business areas—not just individually, but above all, in how they complement one another.
I can confidently state that, despite another year of a weak and challenging property market, Catella has navigated the landscape successfully, further solidifying the position as a pan-European property investment and advisory firm. Over the year, we increased assets under management, secured liquidity, and maintained a strong operating profit despite a significant decline in variable income. We also maintained a strong balance sheet, positioning ourselves to capitalize on opportunities as transaction market uncertainty diminishes. We concluded the year with a strong final quarter, driven by a recovering market and a range of efficiency improvements, reinforcing our optimism for 2025.
In the latter part of 2024, we observed further signs of recovery and a rise in transaction activity across the European property markets in which we operate. In the fourth quarter, transaction volumes in the European market rose by 22 percent year-over-year, driven primarily by the market gradually adjusting to lower capital costs. Furthermore, we can confirm that the downward trend in property values observed over the past two years has now been reversed.
The rise in transaction market activity benefits all our business areas and strengthens our outlook for continued positive development, creating value for both us and our shareholders. This development enabled us to deliver a very strong result in the final quarter of the year as well as for the year as a whole.
Outlook
After two undeniably challenging years, I view the future with optimism, while acknowledging the significant geopolitical, political, and macroeconomic uncertainties in our global environment.
I am proud to acknowledge that we have done – and continue to do, the right things. Throughout the year, we streamlined and adapted our organization, while also ensuring strong liquidity and a strong capital position, which leaves us well-equipped for the market’s return to full strength. Furthermore, we have developed and refined our strategy, closely aligned with our focus on property and our ambition to better leverage our core assets – capital and expertise – to drive sustainable and profitable growth.
I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of Catella’s employees, who have demonstrated resilience and the ability to navigate a challenging landscape in 2024, which has been crucial to our progress and profit throughout the year.
Finally, I also want to thank our customers and shareholders for the continued trust you have placed in us over the past year. With a strong balance sheet and a more favourable transaction market on the horizon, the outlook is positive for creating new business opportunities and investments that drive long-term value creation and are of benefit to our customers, shareholders, and society at large.
Daniel Gorosch, interim CEO and President
Stockholm, Sweden, April 9, 2025
