Shopping Cntrs Austrls Prprty Gp Re Ltd (ASX: SCP) (or Shopping Centres Australia Property Group) today announced its results for the six months ended 31 December 2015.
The Group, a significant owner of shopping centres tenanted by Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW), recorded revenue growth of 15.6% and net profit after tax of $90.8m, down 7.5% on the same period last year due to a smaller increase in the value of investment properties and the mark-to-market value of derivatives. Excluding non-cash items, funds from Operations was $48.8m, up 29.1% on the same period last year.
The value of investment properties increased to $2,076.1m during the period due to a combination of acquisitions and valuation uplifts. It has paid an interim distribution in respect of the six month period to 31 December 2015 of 6.0cpu.
During the year the company has enjoyed continued sales growth for its supermarket anchors and specialty stores, and has acquired four neighbourhood centres for $115.2 million. In addition, in December 2015 the company also entered into a contract to acquire Greenbank Shopping Centre in Queensland for $23.0 million, which was completed last month.
Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Mellowes, said: "We have continued to add to our portfolio through accretive acquisitions. While the competition to acquire quality neighbourhood shopping centres has increased, and yields continue to firm, we are confident that we can continue to leverage our relationships in and knowledge of the sector to source further off-market transactions that meet our investment criteria."
The Group also launched its first retail fund "SURF 1" containing five of SCP's non-core assets acquired from SCP for $60.9 million, a 12% premium to December 2014 book value.
Shopping Centres Australia Property Group has been a bright light in the financials sector in past 3 months, outperforming its index by 19.6% according to Commsec. Other outstanding performances in the same sector have included GPT Group (ASX: GPT) and Scentre Group Ltd (ASX: SCG) who have outperformed the index by 18.8% and 17.7% respectively.
Shares in the Group are down just over 3% for the day.
