Spanish property company MERLIN Properties raised its 2026 FFO target while outlining battery costs under a draft power decree, tying a major data center buildout to Spain's proposed energy rules.
The revised objective puts full-year funds from operations (FFO) at €0.58 per share, compared with €0.55 previously. MERLIN generated €274.5 million in FFO during the first nine months of 2026, an 11.9% increase from a year earlier, according to its 9M26 results release. The company cited stronger returns from its traditional property operations and greater data center income. Like-for-like rental growth was 3.4%, while portfolio occupancy stood at 95%.
The company's investor presentation sets the MEGA plan at 704 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity, split across phases of 64 MW, 254 MW and 386 MW. MERLIN said the revised plan is intended to limit the projects' exposure to the draft decree.
A separate worst-case model covers 338 MW of projects affected by the proposed hourly energy-matching rule. MERLIN estimates the battery energy storage system spending in that scenario at €863 million, or 11.3% of the plan's €7.671 billion total investment. The company classifies €553 million of the battery spending as nonrecoverable.
The presentation says the draft decree would take effect 20 days after adoption and publication in Spain's Official State Gazette (BOE). MERLIN also reported completing a €3.75 billion refinancing after the reporting period. It put average debt maturity at 5.3 years, with no maturities due over the next three years.
The presentation lists Tuesday, Nov. 17, Friday, Nov. 20 and Nov. 24 as possible approval windows, but does not identify a confirmed decision date.
