Centuria Industrial REIT shares rise on HY result, urban infill outlook
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More news: Shares in Centuria Industrial REIT rallied after the industrial property investor notched an improved first-half profit and reiterated its bullish outlook on Australia's urban infill market.
Centuria shares were up 1.9% to $3.01, having retreated more than 10% over the last 12 months.
Centuria Industrial REIT lifts HY profit, reaffirms guidance
The news: Property investor Centuria Industrial REIT reported a sharp lift in first-half profit to $62.6 million, and reaffirmed its full-year funds from operations (FFO) guidance, boosted by demand for urban infill industrial facilities against a backdrop of limited supply.
The numbers: Centuria's net profit rose 413% year on year, while the company reported first-half FFO of $56.6 million, up from $54.1 million in the prior corresponding period. Distribution per unit of 8.1 cents edged up from 8 cents a year ago.
Centuria reaffirmed its FY25 FFO guidance of 17.5 cents per unit, and its distribution guidance of 16.3 cents per unit.
The context: Centuria noted that "opportune macroeconomic factors" — including population growth, increasing ecommerce adoption and onshoring of supply chains — are driving demand for urban infill industrial facilities.
The company said it is well positioned to capitalise on the opportunity given 87% of its portfolio is weighted to Australia's urban infill industrial markets that service densely populated areas where tenant demand remains highest.
Centuria, which also has a 12% portfolio weighting to data centres leased to blue-chip tenants Telstra and Fujitsu, said it is currently assessing its potential power bank across its existing infill industrial assets. These may provide an opportunity for future data centre use, it said, capitalising on rising demand for data infrastructure and AI capabilities.
The source: ASX announcement
