Renta 4 | The financial newspaper Expansión features an interview with Ismael Clemente (CEO of the company) in its Monday edition, in which he reviews Merlin Properties’ (MRL) short- and medium-term strategy.
In this regard, Merlin Properties will continue with its strategic roadmap focused on the expansion of data centres. With phases 1 and 2 already underway, Merlin’s CEO reveals that phase III, currently in the planning stage, will be the most ambitious of all. It will initially affect developments in the Basque Country, Lisbon, Madrid and Extremadura, and will be financed through a combination of debt and new capital increases.
As a result, data centres are considered the key growth engine that will completely change the scale and morphology of the company. Data centres are projected to grow from representing 5% of revenues last year to between 45% and 50% in 2030, and up to 75% by 2032-33. In terms of cash flow, phase II alone is estimated to double it from €300 million to around €600 million.
On the other hand, Merlin does not plan to sell its traditional assets to finance growth in data centres, and equally, in the long term, it would consider the possibility of reinvesting in traditional assets so as not to over-concentrate the business in data centres and to be able to ‘play’ with the different market cycles.
Assessment: We expect this news to have a neutral impact on the share price pending further details on phase III of data centres.
We recall that in December we anticipated that the company would provide more information on this phase, presumably in its annual results presentation in February, although the interview anticipates an Investor Day in the first half of 2026.
We reiterate our Overweight recommendation with a target price of €16 per share.
