18 May 2021

Commercial property investment firm Investore reports hefty profits

11:17 am on 18 May 2021

Retail property company Investore's full-year profit has jumped following a significant gain to the value of its portfolio.

Colored crosswalk and people in street of city after dusk showing the character of famous tourist spot.

File photo. Photo: 123rf

Investore, managed by Stride Property Management, reported a net profit for the year ended March of $161.3 million, compared with $28.6m a year ago. Its bottom line was boosted by a $139.3m gain in the value of its properties.

Stripping out the one-off gains, Investore's underlying profit rose $3.2m to $29.9m.

Investore primarily invests in big-box retail properties and its tenants include supermarkets, large retail businesses, fast food restaurants and gyms.

Its revenue generated from rent rose 16 percent to $55.8m for the year, partly as a result of a series of rent reviews with its clients and the acquisition of three new properties.

However, the average lease time for its properties fell slightly from 10.4 years to 9.8 years.

"Investore performed strongly during the FY21, a year that presented a number of opportunities and challenges for Investore," the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.

The company said it had come through last year's lockdowns in good shape because a high proportion of its tenants serviced the everyday needs of consumers, such as food, medicine, and pet supplies.

This also meant the company only had to provide about $900,000 in rent relief for its tenants that had struggled during the past 12 months.

Investore also announced the acquisition of a piece of land in North Canterbury for $10.5m and had already reached an in-principle agreement with Woolworths NZ to construct a new Countdown supermarket.

It is the second purchase the company announced this week after it bought the Countdown supermarket in Petone, Wellington.

Investore had about $130m worth of headroom on its balance sheet and said it would continue to look for new properties to add to its portfolio.

The company's board declared a dividend of 1.9 cents per share for the March quarter, taking its full-year payout to 7.6 cents.

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