gpt result

Mornin' all.

I've had a very busy time since close yesterday. We saw a massive opportunity in BBP after a Centro-esque announcement yesterday so we're now the proud part-owner of some power generation assets. Attention had to (temporarily) switch to researching another company other than Centro overnight. I know... shocking (no pun intended).

Anyway, you may have seen that GPT announced their quarterly update yesterday. As you are probably aware, GPT is a large owner of commercial property both in Australia and abroad. Alongside their other assets, they have shopping centres both in Australia and the US.

I just wanted to raise a couple of quick points from their quarterly update, which can be found here:

http://www.gpt.com.au/contentdocs/PerformanceSummaries/March%202008%20Quarterly%20Update.pdf

1. The level of disclosure in this quarterly update is very, very good, as is the commentary and the way in which it is presented. If the boys and girls at Centro would see their way to doing the same, I would say part-owners such as us would feel a lot more comfortable. Centro take note. I'm actually starting to tire at the lack of disclosure and the one-page here and there approach from Centro. Contrast this GPT release with the ann from Centro last week.

2. The AFR today (p67) reported GPT have revalued their assets up "marginally" during the quarter but I am unable to see the asset class or geography associated with this. You'll notice that the Australian MAT growth is worse than Centro (as was Westfield from memory) and they have called out the fact that occupancy remains high and arrears low. This continues to indicate the quality of the Centro AU shopping centre assets. There is an expectation that things will soften in Australia moving forwards.

3. The US retail assets have a 50bp higher occupancy rate than the Centro assets (which is probably a reflection on the types of property), but whilst sales per sqft has dropped slightly, yields remain constant from the Dec quarter. Again, no sign of the doom and gloom in the US during the quarter.

I'd recommend a read if you get the chance. At the risk of labouring a point, Centro really need to take a leaf out of the books of GPT, Westfield, et al when it comes to disclosure and the way in which it is being done.