KEY POINTS:
Specialist landlord ING Medical Properties Trust suffered a 65.6 per cent dive in its bottom-line profit but its chief emphasised operating profit which rose by $1 million.
The trust's net profit after tax fell from $25.1 million last year to $8.6 million this year. General manager David Carr
described that figure as "non-crystallised" and therefore largely irrelevant to investors whose distributions were increasing.
The bottom-line profit was affected by revaluations which decreased $1.6 million, a factor the trust described as "a market-driven decline".
Carr said operating profit was up from $11.1 million last year to $12.1 million this year and this number was far more relevant.
"In 2007, the then-buoyant property market assisted in recording $13.5 million of revaluation gains and as a result the trust reported an operating surplus of $26.9 million,"
The trust owns properties valued at $298 million and its total assets are worth $308 million, making it one of the smallest listed real estate entities.
Its property value rose $57.3 million or 23 per cent, after the trust bought the Apollo Health and Wellness Centre and Ascot Central, both in Auckland.
Carr said the trust was well placed, having a weighted average lease term of 9.3 years, the longest in the New Zealand listed property sector.
The trust, formerly Calan Healthcare, closed yesterday up 4c at $1.13, well below its net tangible asset backing of $1.30 a unit.
ING also has another property entity listed on the NZX. ING Property Trust owns a collection of large buildings, including the $35 million Citibank Centre on Customs St and the $80.5 million Albany Mega Centre on the North Shore.
The medical trust is projecting investor returns to at least remain the same next year.
"The core portfolio is expected to perform well over the coming year and notwithstanding abnormal economic pressures this should lead to a cash distribution at least in line with the cash distribution for the 2008 financial year of 8.5 cents per unit," it said yesterday.
ING MEDICAL PROPERTIES TRUST
Year to June 30
Operating profit
2008 - $12.1m
2007 - $11.1m
Total income
2008 - $21m
2007 - $18.8m
Revaluations
2008 - -$1.6m
2007 - $13.5m
Pre-tax profit
2008 - $10.4m
2007 - $26.9m
Net profit after tax
2008 - $8.6m
2007 - $25.1m
Dividend
2008 - 8.5c
2007 - 7.6c
