2/10/2012 9:00 AM ET
(RTTNews) - Commercial real estate firm Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (BPO: News ,BPO.TO: News ) on Friday reported a 34 percent decline in fourth-quarter funds from operations or FFO, reflecting the sale of it's residential operations earlier in the fiscal year. However, excluding items, comparable FFO increased slightly from last year. Looking ahead, the company forecasts FFO for fiscal year 2012 mostly below analysts' estimates.
The New York-based company's FFO, a key measure of real estate firms' profitability, was $134 million or $0.26 per share for the fourth quarter, down from $204 million or $0.40 per share in the prior-year period.
Excluding one-time items and discontinued residential operations, FFO on a comparable basis rose to $151 million or $0.26 per share from $136 million or $0.25 per share in the year-ago period.
On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.25. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Fourth-quarter net income attributable to shareholders was $338 million or $0.58 per share, down from $971 million or $1.70 per share in the year-ago period.
Commercial property net operating income rose to $305 million from $203 million last year, mainly due to the impact of the property acquisitions and the consolidation of the U.S. Office Fund.
Total revenue for the quarter grew 33 percent to $527 million from $397 million in the year-ago period, but missed analysts' consensus of $580.10 million.
The company said it leased 2.7 million square feet of space during the quarter at an average net rent of $29.50 per square foot, representing a 4 percent increase over expiring net rents in the period. This brought the total amount of space leased for the year to 10 million square feet.
The portfolio occupancy rate finished the quarter at 93.2 percent, Brookfield said.
For fiscal year 2011, Brookfield Office Properties' net income rose to $1.69 billion or $2.92 per share from $1.55 billion or $2.73 per share in the prior year.
FFO for the year declined to $582 million or $1.14 per share from $688 million or $1.37 per share last year. However, comparable FFO rose to $605 million or $1.08 per share from $514 million or $0.94 per share in the prior year. Analysts expected earnings of $1.14 per share.
Total revenue grew to $1.79 billion from $1.33 billion in the previous year, but missed analysts' consensus estimate of $2.09 billion.
Looking ahead to fiscal year 2012, Brookfield forecasts FFO in a range of $613 million to $637 million or $1.07 to $1.12 per share, with a mid-point of $626 million or $1.10 per share. Analysts expect the company to earn $1.12 per share.
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