australand annual profit up 11pc

Goblin should be happy about it.....cheers mate where ever you are...:)

Australand annual profit up 11%

2008-Feb-14 02:45 PM
Australand Property Group expects to ride out any downturn in the construction sector by expanding its funds management arm and selectively expanding its footprint into the industrial and logistic sectors in Asia.

The property developer, which on Thursday reported an 11 per cent increase in annual net profit to $269.24 million, said its business had not been affected by the sub-prime fallout from the United States.

Operating net profit, excluding unrealised gains in property revaluations, was up five per cent to $163.2 million for the 2007 calendar year.

Chief executive Bob Johnston said the company's financial fundamentals were in good shape and well supported by a strong balance sheet.

"The current global market volatility has brought a change to the market we operate in recently and created a great deal of uncertainty in the Australian market," Mr Johnston said.

"In fact, the high demand for transparency following the sub-prime fallout has increased the appetite for large domestic investments in core property business and this makes us well placed to deliver and perform through this cycle."

Mr Johnston said that if market conditions did not deteriorate significantly, Australand was expected to deliver two to three per cent earnings per security growth in net operating profit, excluding property revaluations, in 2008.

Mr Johnston said Australand would deliver sustainable growth by capitalising on the company's existing operations and growing its existing funds management platform.

He said Australand would leverage its partnering relationships to launch a new fund and expand its footprint selectively into the industrial and logistic sectors in Asia.

"We have a significant development pipeline and we continue to develop a diversified asset base to place us in good stead," he said.

"We have currently a $6.8 billion in our development pipeline.

"We expect solid contribution and growth in the future from this pipeline and along with continued diversity, the positive momentum will continue."

Australand chief financial officer Tiernan O'Rourke said the company had no major debt facilities to be refinanced in 2008 and had undrawn facilities of $170 million at the end of 2007.

Some $152 million of debt facilities mature this year, of which 74 per cent had been renewed since the start of 2008.

"Australand is well positioned with 97 per cent of total debt secured by our portfolio of high quality assets, strong operating cash flows and solid banking relationships," he said." Australand had net debt at December 31 of $1.5 billion and a gearing level of 40.4 per cent.

The group expected to maintain distributions at the 2007 increased rate of 17 cents per stapled security.

Australand stapled securities was up nine cents or 5.06 per cent to $1.87 by 1354 AEDT Thursday.