In the developing market of co-working spaces in Vilnius, traditional international operators are expanding most actively, at that time local market participants are helped by finding their own niche in the competitive struggle, according to real estate service companies "Newsec advisers LT" analyst.
"In the market, the large operators of collaboration networks will occupy an increasingly large share, while the smaller ones will try to share the rest. There will be fewer and fewer individual players and in the long run there may be only one other, more exclusive one, because otherwise they will not be able to withstand the competition," Gintaras Toločka told BNS.
According to Newsec, currently the largest operators of co-working spaces are the international company IGW, which manages the Regus network in Vilnius and opened the first space of the Spaces network in the Baltic States, the Estonian capital company Workland Lithuania, which recently purchased two spaces of the Happspace network Beautiful, the managers of the Lithuanian capital network "AltSpace", the startup park "Vilnius tech park", the international company "Technopolis", which is soon planning to open the second space of the network "Uma".
According to the data of the Register Center, in 2018, the Regus network manager achieved the highest turnover. Her company "Regus management Lithuania" grew its turnover 2 times to 1,43 million. euros, while the income of Regus business centers Vilnius decreased by 15,9 percent last year. up to 421,4 thousand euros. The first of them earned 3,6 thousand. EUR net profit, the second suffered EUR 97,5 thousand. net losses of EUR.
Last year, the institution managing "Vilnius tech park" received almost 1,3 million. EUR income - 33 percent. more than in 2017, its net operating result reached 218,8 thousand euros.
It was also a successful year for the company managing the co-working space "AltSpace" in the capital's North Town - during the first year of operation, it received 200,3 thousand. EUR income and earned 1,3 thousand. euros
net profit.
However, according to G. Toločka, for now it is difficult to comment on the financial results of the operators, because more clarity will be provided when the financial statements are submitted only by the companies that are opening co-working spaces: Technopolis, which separated the management of the spaces into a separate company at the end of 2018, Workland of the network " manager, the company that opened the AltSpace space on Iceland Street.
"The numbers and recent trends have only confirmed the idea that traditional network operators will continue to dominate and expand, while individual projects will more often face difficulties and moderately give up positions to them. Such an example is the sale of the Happspace network to the Workland operator," he said.
In May, the operator of the Estonian workplace rental network Workland Estonia announced that it had purchased two 300-seat co-working spaces of the Lithuanian network Happspace in Kaunas Laisvės avenue and the Arka office building for an undisclosed sum.
"Workland Lithuania", which currently manages co-working spaces in Vilnius on Gediminas Prospekt and Dižioja Street, announced plans to open two new co-working spaces in the capital's office complex "Quadrum" and Kaunas Laisvės Avenue. It is planned to invest about 2,5 million in them. euros.
"Recently, the most active in the country are the traditional operators - Regus and Workland, which increase their turnover both through increasing the occupancy and pricing of existing spaces, and through expansion, so it is not difficult for their income to grow. Moreover, they will continue to dominate the market and widen the gap with the smaller ones. The news about the opening of the space of the international network "Talent garden" is also important, because it is also one of the big players in the market", said G. Toločka.
In June, the investment company "INVL Baltic Real Estate" announced that it plans to open a space of the "Talent garden" network with more than 2019 seats in the capital's Vilniaus street at the end of 230, as it signed a franchise
contract with the Italian company "Talent garden" for representing the network.
According to G. Toločka, local and smaller players can also compete with the big ones only by expanding their networks and looking for their niche.
"Other players who are more alternative are also trying to strengthen themselves through development. They try to compete not on price, but through niche model and exclusivity. For example, AltSpace, which has already opened a second space after a very successful first, SBA Monday office, which shows very good results and there are more and more rumors about their expansion, Technopolis chain Uma, which will soon open a second space in the shopping center on Gediminas avenue", he says.
Mykolas Markauskas, the head of the Internet television "Laisvės TV", who is also the main owner of the "AltSpace" network operator, announced that this year in the capital for 1,45 million. It is planned to expand both managed spaces.
The second 9-seat co-working space of the Uma chain is planned to open in July in the Go230 shopping center, which is being renovated at the time. The first one is already operating in the so-called Oz Park, an office building managed by Technopolis.
G. Toločka says that we should not forget "Vilnius tech park", which manages the largest co-working space.
"I would single it out as a separate phenomenon: it is very niche, preferential, not like commercial spaces. It is much more difficult for such a park to increase revenue. It cannot go to the market to rent expensive premises, so all their growth is through efficiency and occupancy at the current location and pricing adjustments. It seems that the park has already reached its ceiling and will only be able to continue growing by a few percent until it opens a new location," said G. Toločka.
The operator of "Vilnius tech park" confirmed to BNS this week that it is looking for a new location for development. Currently in Antakalni there are 800 jobs in the existing park, and the institution is looking for a place for a new 1 thousand. for the park of jobs.
Author: Evelina Povilaitytė
