Monday, real estate investment holding trust Liberty Property Trust (LRY) reported an increase in third quarter profit, with an increase in Funds From Operations from the same quarter a year ago. Revenues for the quarter improved from a year ago, however, came in below Street estimates. Looking ahead, the company revised its fiscal 2009 guidance.
The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company reported net income available to common shareholders for the third quarter of $43.90 million or $0.39 per share, compared to $38.55 million or $0.41 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Funds from operations or FFO available to common shareholders for the third quarter of 2009 was $83.06 million or $0.72 per share, compared to $78.26 million or $0.80 per share in the third quarter of 2008.
Funds from operations for the third quarter include termination fees of $6.2 million, and an impairment charge of $4.8 million.
On average, twelve analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.70 per share for the quarter. Analysts estimates typically exclude special items.
Income from continuing operations for the third quarter increased to $40.58 million or $0.30 per share from $33.80 million or $0.29 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
Income from discontinuing operations for the third quarter declined to $10.17 million or $0.09 per share from $12.15 million or $0.12 per share in the same quarter last year.
Total operating revenue for the quarter increased to $187.49 million from $182.43 million in the prior-year quarter. Six analysts had a revenue consensus of $185.59 million for the third quarter.
The company recorded rental revenues for the third quarter of $130.64 million, up from $126.42 million in the same quarter last year. Operating expense reimbursement increased marginally to $56.85 million from $56.01 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Quarterly operating expenses declined to $113.80 million from $114.98 million in the same quarter a year ago.
At September 30, 2009, Liberty's in-service portfolio of 77.4 million square feet was 89.3% occupied. During the quarter, Liberty completed lease transactions totaling 3.5 million square feet of space.
Property level operating income for same store properties increased by 0.4% on a cash basis and by 2.0% on a straight line basis for the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008.
For the nine-month period, The company's net income available to common shareholders increased to $108.46 million or $1.02 per share from $100.14 million or $1.08 per share in the similar period of last year.
FFO available to common shareholders for the nine-month period was $238.16 million or $2.16 per share, compared to $233.01 million or $2.41 per share in year-ago period.
Total operating revenue for the period grew to $557.15 million from $547.04 million in the prior-year period.
Looking forward for 2009, Liberty now expects to report funds from operations to be in the range of $2.81 - $2.83 per share. Net income is now expected to be in the range of $1.32 - $1.37 per share.
Analysts currently xpect the company to report earnings of $2.83 per share for fiscal 2009.
While announcing the first-quarter result, the company had slashed its FFO forecast to a range of $2.70 - $2.90 per share from a prior guidance of $3.00 to $3.20 per share. Earnings were anticipated between $0.84 per share and $1.04 per share, down from the earlier range of $1.24 per share to $1.44 per share.
For 2010, the company expects funds from operations to be in the range of $2.60 - $2.80 per share. Net income is expected to be in the range of $1.12- $1.33 per share.
Analysts currently expect the company to report earnings of $2.69 per share for fiscal 2010.
LRY closed Monday's trading session at $30.83, up $0.11 or 0.36%, on a volume of 0.97 million shares.
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