Australia's leading retail property group, Vicinity Centres (ASX:VCX) has announced the retirement of its Chairman, Mr. Peter Hay. As per the announcement, Mr. Hay will retire from the Board on 14 August 2019, following the release of the companyâs FY 2019 results.
After his retirement, Mr. Peter Kahan will take over the role of Chairman. Mr. Kahan has been Non-executive Director of Vicinity since June 2015 and before joining Vicinity he has held various executive position in big companies and his prior roles include serving as Executive Deputy Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Finance Director of The Gandel Group.
For the six months ended 31 December 2018, the company had reported Statutory net profit of $235.3 million as compared to $755.9 in the previous corresponding period. The decrease in the profit was mainly driven by the non-cash revaluation decrements on directly owned properties and net foreign exchange movements on interest bearing liabilities. For the six months period, the company reported Funds from operations (FFO) of 9.06 cents per security, down by 0.9% due to the impact of the divestment of 16 higher yielding, non-core assets over the past 18 months.
During the half year period, the company divested $670.5 million (12 assets) of up to $1.0 billion of non-core asset sales targeted for FY19. Further, the company prioritised and progressed its plans for mixed-use opportunities within the portfolio. During the period, the company also progressed its discussions with Keppel Capital for the proposed $1.0 billion wholesale fund. With these initiatives, the company is progressing towards its strategy of creating a core portfolio of market-leading destinations, realising mixed-use opportunities within the portfolio and expanding the wholesale funds platform, to deliver strong and sustainable growth for securityholders.
For FY19, the company is expecting its FFO per security to be in between 18.0-18.2 cents, in line with previous guidance and reflecting comparable growth of 2.3% to 3.4%. For FY 2019, the company is expecting its distribution payout ratio to be at the upper end of the target range of 95% to 100% of AFFO. The company believes that it is well positioned to create long-term value and sustainable growth.
Now, letâs have a glance at the companyâs stock performance and the return it has posted over the past few months. The stock is trading at a price of $2.570, up by 2.39% during the dayâs trade with a market capitalisation of ~$9.54 billion as on 24 April 2019. The counter opened the day at $2.540 and reached the dayâs high of $2.5700 and touched a dayâs low of $2.520 with a daily volume of ~11,544,200. The stock has provided a year till date return of -0.40% & also posted returns of -4.92%, -3.83% & -2.33% over the past six months, three & one-month period respectively. It had a 52-week high price of $2.835 and touched 52 weeks low of $2.360, with an average volume of ~13,734,326.
Disclaimer
This website is a service of Kalkine Media Pty. Ltd. A.C.N. 629 651 672. The website has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a complete source of information on any particular company. Kalkine Media does not in any way endorse or recommend individuals, products or services that may be discussed on this site. Our publications are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold. We are neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice.