Dexus upgrades guidance growth for FY18 after strong first six months
Dexus has upgraded its guidance for distribution per security growth for FY18 having announced a strong result for the first six months of FY18.
Dexus CEO Darren Steinberg says suggested the office leasing activity was a big contributor.
“Our core office markets across the country are all showing positive leasing activity and the latest record employment numbers support our view of continued positive momentum over the next few years.
“We have seen more evidence of strong take up in Sydney and Melbourne and have converted significant levels of enquiry to leasing commitments at 240 St Georges Terrace in Perth.
“Our focus on enhancing returns through the activation of office development projects in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth enables us to leverage our leasing and development expertise and is an efficient use of capital at this point in the cycle.
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“Our funds continue to deliver strong performance and we completed the first equity raise for the new Healthcare Wholesale Property Fund, generating interest in the sector from global and domestic investors, and adding three new clients onto our platform.
“We advanced opportunities that will contribute to future trading profits and are confident of securing our FY18 target.
“From an employee perspective, we achieved an engagement score of 87% in our latest Willis Towers Watson employee engagement survey, which is eight percentage points higher than the Australian National Norm and two percentage points above the Global Property and Asset Management Norm.”
Financial Highlights
Net profit after tax of $997.1 million, up 39.3% on the previous corresponding period
Funds from Operations1 (FFO) of $321.8 million, up 8.7% on the previous corresponding period
Underlying FFO per security (FFO excluding trading profits) of 30.2 cents, up 1.7% on the previous corresponding period
Distribution per security of 23.7 cents, up 9.2% on the previous corresponding period
Reduced the Group Management Expense Ratio to 33 basis points
Completed Dexus’s largest ever debt raising of $653 million, achieving Dexus’s longest average
duration for a debt issue of 13.5 years and extending Dexus’s total debt duration to 7.0 years
Gearing (look-through) 2 of 26.5%
