Thank you, Rio. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining the earnings conference call of Nexus Select Trust for the quarter ended December '25.

Before we proceed, I'd like to highlight that the management may make certain statements that may constitute forward-looking statements. Please be advised that the actual results may differ from these statements.

Nexus Select Trust does not guarantee these statements or results and is not obligated to update them at any point of time. Specifically any financial guidance and pro forma information that we share on this call are management estimates based on certain assumptions and have not been subjected to audit, review, examination procedures.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. Joining me today on the call is Dalip Sehgal, Executive Director and CEO, Rajesh Deo, CFO, Jayen Naik, President Operations, and Nirzar Jain, President Leasing.

We'll start off with brief remarks on our business and financial performance, and then open the floor for questions. Over to you, Dalip.

Thank you, Pratik. Good evening, everyone.

It's my pleasure to welcome you to the earnings update call for quarter three FY '26 for Nexus Select Trust, India's first listed retail REIT. We are pleased to report another robust financial quarter marked by 15% year-on-year NOI growth.

On the back of this strong performance, we are announcing a distribution of Rs 359 crores translating to INR 2.367 per unit. This marks our highest ever quarterly distribution since listing, underscoring the robustness and consistency of our cash flow generation.

Just to repeat, 359 crores, 2.367 per unit. Cumulatively for the year, we have distributed INR 1,029, which is 6.795 per unit, achieving 75% of our full-year guidance.

We remain firmly on track to achieve our FY '26 NOI and distribution guidance. Turning to the performance of our recently acquired assets, Vega City, Bangalore continued its strong momentum during the quarter, delivering 14% year-on-year tenant consumption growth and an 11% increase in footfall growth.

Just to remind you, when we acquired the asset, the sales and consumption growth was a -10%, from -10%, it's gone up to +14%, so that's a big swing. MBD Neopolis in Ludhiana witnessed a sustained rebound in footfalls driving robust year-on-year tenant sales growth of 15% during the quarter.

I think our playbook of buying the assets and then turning them around continues to be strong. On the consumption front, we continue to witness strong momentum in quarter three FY '26 with a 16% year-on-year growth.

This is on the back of a 12% growth in quarter one and a 16% in quarter two. During the quarter, the growth was broad-based, driven by targeted marketing campaigns and robust consumer demand.

Now let me walk you through some of the category-wise trends. Fashion, while we know that fashion constitutes almost 50% of our overall consumption, it's continued to not perform so well in the first half, but in the quarter that is under discussion, it has grown and there is a 6% like-for-like growth.

We are seeing a reversal in trend as far as fashion is concerned, which at one point in time was a bit of a laggard. Family entertainment centers including multiplexes sustained healthy momentum aided by blockbuster titles like Dhurandhar, Kantara 2, Avatar, etc., and we remain optimistic about this segment given a very strong slate of upcoming releases in the current quarter as well.

Jewelry, which constitutes approximately 7% of our overall consumption, continued to see very strong sales growth of 57% year-on-year. The sales growth momentum has continued into January '26, indicating sustained demand across categories.

January again has been a very strong month. Let me now walk you through leasing and marketing performance.

On the leasing front, we continue to see very strong demand from both international and domestic brands. Supported by this robust demand, we re-leased approximately 2 lakh square feet during the quarter at 20% mark-to-market spreads.

Over the past nine months, out of the total 8 lakh square feet that we have re-leased, we have strategically churned more than 3 lakh square feet of space ahead of expiry, achieving healthy spreads, reflecting proactive asset management. During the quarter, Foot Locker opened its first flagship store in South India at Nexus Koramangala, further reinforcing our position as a preferred destination.

COS opened their first store in India at Select CITYWALK in Delhi. We curated a high-end jewelry zone, as we had spoken about earlier, at Nexus Elante, spanning over 30,000 sq ft on the lower ground floor housing 10 marquee brands including Tanishq, Indriya, Malabar, CaratLane, and Forevermark.

Forevermark would be the first store in that market. We are planning to replicate similar category-specific zones across other malls with a strategic focus on premiumizing our brand mix and improving the quality of footfall.

From a marketing perspective, we introduced 25 immersive ticketed experiences across our malls during the quarter, driving strong engagement and augmenting footfalls. Our Nexus One app now has 8 lakh users and remains among India's top performing mall apps.

The app is now live across 17 malls including seamless onboarding of Nexus Vega City and Nexus MBD Ludhiana. Coming to our robust balance sheet, during the quarter we have raised INR 700 crores anchored by IFC.

We are first in the industry to raise a 10-year sustainability-linked bond with a floating rate tranche of INR 200. This is expected to result in an annualized saving of INR 6 crores.

Since listing, our proactive debt management has resulted in approximately 120 basis point reduction in debt costs. In addition, I'm also pleased to report that our average outstanding receivables remain at a historic low of approximately only 3 days, reflecting strong operational discipline and tenant relationships.

Now let me walk you through our recent acquisition in Chandigarh and our future pipeline. We're delighted to have successfully completed a strategic bolt-on acquisition of 60,000 sq ft of prime retail space within the Nexus Elante complex.

This will enable activation of high street frontage within the courtyard and we expect to lease this space with couture brands the best in the country. We intend to selectively replicate this acquisition and expansion strategy across our portfolio where similar opportunities exist.

This is our Elante Boulevard complex. Coming to the acquisition pipeline, we have a robust pipeline of 11 assets across India with four assets under due diligence.

Very strong pipeline even now. Supported by a strong balance sheet, low leverage, and close to USD 1 billion of debt headroom, we are very well-positioned to execute the next phase of our inorganic growth strategy.

On sustainability, Nexus continues to lead the sector. We have been recognized as a regional sector leader, retail Asia by GRESB.

Under our Lakes of Happiness initiative, we have now rejuvenated 10 lakes and are targeting a total of 15 lakes restoration by 2026. During the quarter, we also launched Ananya, an education program for front-line staff in strategic collaboration with Madhavbaug Skills University India, first higher education program in mall management, reinforcing our leadership and long-term talent vision.

Before concluding, I would like to share that Nexus has been certified as a Great Place to Work for the sixth consecutive year. I'd like to thank my fellow colleagues and employees of Nexus for the achievements.

Lastly, summarizing our quarter performance. Number one, consumption momentum remained strong with double-digit growth and we expect this to sustain in the coming months.

Our inorganic growth strategy remains firmly on track, supported by a strong acquisition pipeline and a playbook that allows us to turn around assets in pretty quick time. Leasing demand continues to be robust across categories and geography, and clearly the demand of space, A-grade space outstrips the supply.

Retail NOI grew 15% year-on-year in Q3 FY '26 and we remain on track to meet our full-year guidance. Retail NOI grew at 15% year-on-year and we're on track to meet our full-year guidance.

We declared our 10th consecutive 100% payout distribution with total payout since listing approximately Rs 22 per unit with overall 80% total returns and an IRR of in excess of 27% since we listed in May of '23. With this, let me now move on to the Q&A.

Over to you, Pratik.

Good evening everyone and thanks for the opportunity.

Mohit, we can't hear you very clearly. If you are on a hands-free, request you to use the handset.

Is this better?

Yes,

sir. Better,

Mohit. Okay.

My first question is on the consumption number, you have mentioned 9% like-for-like growth. What would that translate into on a rental growth basis?

So 15% is the reported number. What would be the like-for-like rental growth considering that your jewelry has grown 57%, so that becomes important to understand?

Mohit, the retail NOI growth is about 8% like-for-like versus reported of 15%.

Perfect. My next question is, Dalip sir, in your opening remarks you mentioned that the growth has been broad-based and led by marketing campaigns.

I didn't find the mention of the entire GST cuts which have happened. Fair to say that at your price points, at your segments, it does not matter much?

That is first, and secondly, what segments would you still consider are a laggard? Would fashion at 6% LFL would be among the weakest within your consumption basket?

I think you've asked two different questions. One is the impact of the GST reduction.

Our sense overall is that while I think there is a positive impact, a little difficult to pinpoint by category what has been the impact. Clearly I think on let's say electronics and white goods, etc., maybe even in automobiles, because post-GST discounts are much higher, there is probably some pent-up demand that got taken up.

As far as our mass market categories are concerned, especially fashion, footwear, etc., I think there has been some impact for sure, positive impact, but very difficult to put a number to it, so that would be my first response. The second one, where you said which are the other categories which are laggards and which are doing well, I think fashion at 6%, while it is a laggard, please remember that there were at least four or five quarters where fashion was either zero or very low single digits.

So 6% is a good change from where it was. Will it get better as we go forward?

My answer is yes, primarily because the inventory overhang that was there a couple of quarters back is now over. Number two, I think the whole supply chain, which did take a bit of a hit during the GST, has now stabilized, both for footwear as well as for fashion.

The categories which are still doing very well is jewelry, you've seen has done extremely well. The other is beauty.

I think beauty and healthcare has done again extremely well. All the brands in our malls have done well, primarily because of the fact that personal care and beauty still has a very low degree of penetration amongst consumers, and hence potentially this will in the future become a big category as well.

Entertainment did well thanks to movies like Dhurandhar and Kantara and all. By and large entertainment also has done reasonably well.

I think it is far more broad-based than what it was in the past. While it is still 16% this quarter versus 16% last quarter, I think if you see how the growths have shifted between categories, I think quarter three saw far more broad-based growth than the previous quarter.

Mohit, we're seeing this momentum also continue in Jan. Jan's also kind of clocking similar overall growth.

Yeah. The momentum has continued and yeah, and our sense is that so fashion being 50% of the business, if that does well, then overall getting to strong double-digit growth is possible.

That's very clear. My second question is how is the acquisition pipeline looking in the near term and maybe if you can guide something for FY '27, broadly what kind of assets you are looking at and what is the kind of NOI growth addition that you plan to do for FY '27, and if there is some plan for FY '26 also for the remaining 2 months?

Let me hand this over to Pratik, I think.

Mohit, over the next 4 to 6 months, we're looking to close the four assets which are currently under diligence. Hopefully over the next few months, you'll see us signing and closing some of these deals.

We've kind of earlier guided for adding close to about 150 crores of annual NOI through inorganic growth every year starting FY '26. We did a couple of acquisitions this year.

I think we're pretty much on track for that number. So 150 crores every year for the next 5 years is what we'll add through acquisitions.

The pipeline is still very strong. As of today, apart from the four that Pratik mentioned which are under diligence, I think there are another seven to 10 malls which are there in the pipeline and we are actively looking at that as well.

I think the pipeline is still very strong even as we get into the next financial year. Our overall objective, if you remember, for 2030 was that we would get to about 35 odd malls from 19-20.

I think that's still very much achievable.

My last question is any update on the greenfield acquisition that we had earlier guided to?

It is progressing. I think a couple of issues that need to get sorted out, and hopefully this will also materialize pretty soon.

That's all from my side. Thank you so much and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks so much.

Am I audible?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity.

Good evening to everyone. First on again the consumption growth on like-for-like that we saw, slightly lower than what we saw last quarter, and generally the tendency is like Q3 is better than Q2.

What explains this slight dip in growth? Is it just base effect or some category thing, just trying to delve into that.

Pritesh, Pratik here. See, a couple of our malls and a couple of our top malls, as in Select and Elante, we had certain stores which were under fit-out and we were kind of churning a few tenants.

If you see, there's been some bit of occupancy impact also, and therefore the growth there have been slightly lower. It's all transitionary in phase, it should kind of come back.

You should have seen a little bit higher growth had those stores not been under fit-out, etc.

Sure, got it. Then in terms of the 60,000 sq ft acquisition that we have done in Elante, you have mentioned a comment on slide that we'll keep exploring such opportunities in other assets.

Can you quantify how much such opportunities are available right now in our portfolio where we can consolidate a third-party space or space which is not owned by us?

I think I will request Nirzar to answer.

Hi, I think in Elante, there's a beautiful opportunity to add 60,000 square feet of GLA, and our positioning strategy there is to do high-end couture brands and bringing in a new flavor as we kind of make our assets more stronger. While we've repositioned the lower ground as a gold souk, this also gives us an opportunity to add more flavor to this high consumption center.

Handing over to Pratik to add.

Pritesh, in our top five malls, we kind of see this opportunity at least in about two or three of them. While not getting into too many details at this point of time because some of those conversations are confidential, I'd say in the top five-six malls that we have, we're at least seeing this in top two-three of them.

Got it, this is helpful. One last on the interest side.

Large part of the lower interest cost benefit seems like largely has flowed through this quarter. Is it right or because we know that numbers should be 110 crore a quarter kind of interest expense between SPV and REIT debt.

Large part of that is already there or there is some more benefit to come in? Hi.

This is Rajesh. I think the large part of is already there.

I think additionally whatever we have refinanced 700 crores this quarter, I think that benefit will come in quarter four. The reduction is around 90 bps on 70 on around 700 crores.

This benefit of 6 crores should flow in next quarter.

Sure, got it. That's helpful.

That's it from my side and all the best. Thank you.

Thanks.

Hi team, thanks for taking my question. Great set of numbers.

Just had a follow-up from one of the previous questions. The five to six targets that you had for acquisitions and you mentioned that for four of them, you're looking to close them in the next 4 to 6 months.

Just wanted to check that the Hyderabad portfolio, the three malls that you had, that is in addition to that, right? Any expected closing timelines for that bit?

Hi Jatin, Pratik here. The 5 to 6 months timeline and the four assets that we're looking to close, that doesn't include the Hyderabad one.

Like we've kind of spoken, the Hyderabad ones are a part of our pipeline currently at this point of time, not as a part of the diligence list.

Understood. Got it.

The second one, in FY '26, working capital adjustments have been sort of of help to us. That's been a good number.

Any guidance on this particular number for next year? Just thinking that you're already at 97 odd percent occupancy, what sort of the plan to sort of offset let's say if this number were to come down next year?

How to think about that? Thank you.

I think we're pretty much there in terms of the number, in terms of operating leverage, and all efficiency that we have on working capital. We're pretty much there.

There could be a few basis points reduction or the number of days reduction, but I don't see it materially changing. Yeah.

Our outstandings are less than 3 days now. I don't think you can get better than that.

A large part of this is built in, but from where we are in this quarter, which is 96 odd, I think there is another 100 bps, 150 bps of increased occupancy that will result in better cash flows.

Understood, got it. Sure.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Hi, good evening and thanks for taking my question. Two questions from my side and forgive me if this has been asked earlier.

Our MG and revenue share obviously will be different across categories. For something like a jewelry where we have seen 57% YoY growth, obviously it will not translate to similar kind of increase in rentals over the medium term.

How should we look at consumption translating into rentals over the medium term? That's the first question.

Second, of the 8-9% in like-to-like increase that we have seen in consumption, how much would have come from increase in trading densities and what proportion would have come from maybe increase in footfalls? Thank you.

Okay. Parvez, Pratik.

The first question on NOI lagging consumption growth, right? That was the question.

The gap typically between them is about 100-150 bps. If you see even in this quarter, whether it's reported, whether it is like-for-like, that's the gap that typically and the lag that typically is there between consumption growth and NOI growth, and NOI growth which is primarily driven by rental growth.

That's the gap that we would see and we should kind of see that gap going ahead as well.

Does that answer your first question, Parvez?

No, I think it was about jewelry.

It was about jewelry in a sense that across different categories, obviously you will have different revenue share, etc. For higher ticket items, maybe the increase in consumption does not translate into rental growth over the medium term, your views on that.

No,

just to give you a perspective without getting into too many specific numbers, the trading density of what we have currently ranges from 1,000 rupees to 2,000 rupees. If you look at jewelry, by and large, it could be anywhere between 15 to 20,000 rupees per square foot.

Overall there will be better realization of rentals as we go forward. Of course we have to establish the zone, we have to establish the brand, but these are all very well-known brands, looking at a Tanishq, you're looking at Kalyan, Indriya, and now Forevermark, which is probably the first store outside of Delhi opening in North India.

My overall sense is that yes, there will be revenue share and MG which is a little different from other categories, but overall given the throughputs that are there, I think it will work to our advantage. Our numbers also on contribution of jewelry are now up to almost 10% for the top eight malls, and all of them I think have done better in terms of rentals overall.

That's the sense I have.

Sure, and what would have been the footfall growth this quarter?

Overall footfall growth as reported would be around 4%.

6%.

6%. Including like-for-like, it would be a low single-digit.

Sure, and lastly, there definitely is dipping trading occupancy across some of our malls, as Pratik highlighted, because some of the stores are under fit-outs. What would have been the consumption growth on a like-to-like basis assuming let's say same trading occupancy across malls?

Sure.

For the ones in north, it would have been at least 150 to 200 bps higher, especially in Chandigarh and Elante.

Sure. Thanks and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Good evening, sir, and thank you for the opportunity.

Sir, this mark-to-market slide that you have mentioned around 48% is going to be up for mark-to-market. Generally is it done with the existing tenants or you replace them with the new tenants if you can throw some light on that?

Hi Sarvesh. Pratik.

Typically we try and kind of re-lease it back to the existing tenants, but of course the rentals kind of go up. There are case studies wherein we've actually partially re-leased it and taken some area back from them and given in it to a newer brand or a different brand then which originally occupied that space.

It's a combination. Typically it goes back to the same brand.

Hi, Nirzar here, our churn rate has been 30% to 40%. It also gives us an opportunity to introduce newer brands and flavor as per what the catchment requires.

About 60% would be with the same tenants, 40% out of that would be newer tenants.

Okay. Secondly, on the overall acquisition pipeline, let's say over FY '27 and FY '28, we are at maybe around 11 square feet.

In terms of our total square feet, where will it reach let's say by end of FY '27 and FY '28 given the kind of the acquisitions that are there in the pipeline which are meeting your price target also?

See, we had kind of laid out on our Analyst Day presentation that we want to kind of double our reach and count, etc., and square footage, right? We have indicated about 18 to 20 million square feet over a period of 5 years by FY '30.

I think with the pipeline that we have, we'll be closer to the 18 number over a period of 5 years.

Just to give you a sense, over the last 5 years, 6 years including COVID, we have added 1.5 million every year. That will give you a sense of how this will pan out.

Okay. The kind of malls which are up for acquisition, obviously some of these are the smaller ones, but are you finding enough larger malls also in the market?

Because, for example, in Mumbai now you have Jio, then Oberoi, these are larger ones and new ones, but then they are probably not there in the market. What may be available for acquisition would be smaller ones.

Then one phenomena which probably we are also seeing is that people want to go to one large mall where they get everything in one place, and smaller malls may not get enough sort of footfalls. How do you see that scenario playing out when you look at your inorganic approach?

Sure.

Sure. I think you must look at the current portfolio and what we have acquired in the context of what we have.

If you look at Bangalore, while Vega was a smaller mall, with Vega now we have four malls in Bangalore and put together they'll probably be close to

1.6-1.7

million square feet. We have a substantial presence, and this allows us synergies and savings in terms of marketing costs, admin costs, etc.

That is one way of looking at malls which are slightly smaller, but very very strategic and synergistic in terms of our acquisitions. The other is that some of the smaller towns, you take Ludhiana for example, the mall is at the center of the city and does extremely well, and our entire focus would be to bring in better brands, bring in better F&B, etc., etc., and improve the throughput.

There is no 1 million square feet mall in Ludhiana competing with this. I think there are two different markets.

Oberoi, etc., Bombay is a different market. You take Bhubaneswar, where we opened our mall in 2018, I think, is now at the center of a whole consumption area of Orissa, not just Bhubaneswar, right?

People come from all over, Cuttack, other cities, etc., and that then becomes the focal point. You don't again need 2 million square feet or 1 million square feet.

Depends on the consumption pattern in the city. That's really been our approach.

A, is it synergistic to what we have on board? Two, do we have the capability to build it into the marquee mall for that city?

That marquee mall doesn't have to be, like I said, a million square feet. That's the context in which we would acquire malls.

If it is smaller, but still we have the ability to make it center of the city, we would do that.

At the sponsor level, are there some greenfield developments what we are seeing in the office REIT space that the developers are developing that and taking the development risk and then sort of onward selling it to the REITs? Here is that also a thought process of the plan at the sponsor level to develop some of these greenfield stuff at their end and then sort of forward-roll it to the REIT?

I think it's a fair question, but as of now, like we have said earlier, we're evaluating the whole prospect of doing a greenfield, and in what form, what shape, where, etc., etc. is all being worked out.

The point you make is a fair one, but again, like I said, this is something that is still under investigation, and you'll probably hear about it in the next few months.

Sir. Thank you and all the best.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. I've got a couple of those.

First question is on a comment which was made earlier that NOIs would often lag consumption. Can I just understand that better?

Does it mean that my NOI as a percentage of consumption will continue to trend down? In FY '25, retail NOI to consumption was about 12.5%.

That's been coming down for almost four quarters in a row now. Can I just understand this entire thing better?

Thank you.

Typically a large part of the rentals is fixed rentals. A small part of that is typically revenue share.

In our case, anywhere between 10% to 12% would be the revenue share contribution, the balance would be minimum guaranteed number. The increase in consumption fills in the bucket on revenue share.

Typically consumption increases first, it crosses a threshold after which the revenue share starts kicking in basis the contract. When contracts come up for renegotiation, what we would typically do is you would try and subsume the revenue share component into the minimum guaranteed rental for whenever you are renewing the contract.

At that point of time, what happens is that your rentals go up, but you don't get the revenue share because consumption doesn't cross a particular threshold. Once it kind of crosses over a period of let's say one, one and a half, two years, only then the revenue share comes in.

You'll always see revenue share lagging consumption growth because of the way contracts are structured and the fact that a large part of our rentals are fixed rent.

Got it. That's clear, Pratik.

In this case, where are we right now in this resetting cycle? The other way to ask this is over medium term, how should I think about what's the right ratio on NOI to consumption or rent to consumption?

Okay. I'll say the way NOI grows typically for a business like ours would be anywhere between 8.5% to 9%.

You would see 5% growth coming in on account of minimum guaranteed rentals, so that escalates at 15% every 3 years, therefore 5% a little less than five every year. We typically have, if you see what we've disclosed in our earnings deck as well, our expiry schedule and the gross rentals expiring, we typically get a 20% mark-to-market on those rentals that are expiring.

You would earn anywhere up to 2% growth from the rentals that are expiring every year. About 4.5% add 2%, 5.5%, 6.5%.

We see if consumption grows at about 8%, we see revenue share contributing to about 1, 1.5% of growth. That takes it to about 7.5%, 8%, and then cost saving measures, hotels, offices, some of these things put together add another 0.5% to a percentage on our NOI growth.

I think on a steady-state basis, you should see about 8.5%, 9% NOI growth in this business.

I think just to add, your NOI to consumption will always kind of remain between 10% to 12% in a business like this, which is 12% for this quarter.

Got it, thanks for that. If I could just ask one more housekeeping question, can you share details on segment mix by trading occupancy?

Gaurav, can you just repeat that question? I don't think we followed that.

No, am I audible? No,

no, you were audible, but we weren't able to follow the question.

No, the category mix or segment mix by trading occupancy across your retail assets.

Trading, leasing occupancy or trading occupancy?

You're saying the category salience is what you're asking?

Yes.

What's the category contribution, no, to the entire leased area?

Yes. Yes.

Okay.

Broadly 50% is fashion and that's the biggest contributor. Like Dalip indicated in his opening speech, about 7% is jewelry now, but then it is kind of broadly spread out between electronics, F&B, entertainment, etc.

Got it, okay. Thank you, those were all my questions.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.