New Zealand listed companies foot it with the best in Australia

By Campbell McIlroy

Friday 1st March 2002

BDO LISTED PROPERTY TRUST SURVEY

Overall rankings	Trusts and companies	Score

1	Macquarie Goodman Industrial Trust	427.00
2	Stockland Trust Group	422.25
3	Macquarie Office Trust	421.05
4	Investa Property Group	417.70
5	Property For Industry	416.35
6	BT Office Trust	415.65
7	Capital Properties	413.50
8	Homemaker Retail Group	413.05
9	The National Property Trust	410.05
10	Mirvac Group	408.80
14	Colonial First State Property Trust	406.45
15	Newmarket Property Trust	404.30
30	Kiwi Income Property Trust	381.45
40	AMP NZ Office Trust	364.75

New Zealand listed property companies provided some "very impressive results" in Australia's BDO Listed Property Trust Survey, with five entities in the top 15.

This is the first time New Zealand listed property companies have been included in the survey, which rates the performance of Australia's listed property companies.

On average, New Zealand companies outperformed their Australian counterparts, with an average score of 399.55 out of a possible 500, compared with the Australian average of 382.67.

Property For Industry was the star of the New Zealand companies, earning fifth place in the overall rankings.

Capital Properties came in seventh, National Property Trust ninth, Colonial First State Property Trust 14th and Newmarket Property Trust 15th.

The country's largest property companies, Kiwi Income Property Trust and AMP NZ Office Trust, were well down the list at 30th and 40th respectively.

Overall, New Zealand companies recorded a return on weighted average net assets of 9.91% compared with 7.25% for the Australian companies.

The distribution return on investment was also better on this side of the Tasman at 11.04% compared with 8.18% in Australia, as were the one and three-year returns at 24.73% and 14.12% in New Zealand and 11.49% and 7.32% in Australia.

Unsurprisingly there was a vast difference in the average gross asset size, which was much smaller in New Zealand at just $A282 million compared with $A1359 million in Australia.

The survey also highlighted the strength of the industrial sector, with Macquarie Goodman Industrial Trust taking first place and PFI the best performer from this side of the Tasman.

Industrial was the strongest performing sector by score with an average of 402.31 compared with the overall average of 385.08.

BDO corporate finance partner Ed Psaltis said there had been increased interest from Australia in the New Zealand market, particularly through Westfield and Macquarie, and more recently with Colonial First State buying the management company for Kiwi Income Property Trust.

Although this is the first time New Zealand companies have been included in the survey BDO has been conducting it since 1995.

PFI general manager Peter Alexander said it was great to be recognised and the survey obviously reinforced the sound fundamentals of the industrial sector.

The survey is based on the financial results for the year up to June 30, 2001.

The top-five placing awarded to PFI is based on its results for the year 2000, not the much improved result released last week for the year to December 31, 2001.

The judging criteria is split across three areas: financial, non-financial and investment criteria.

The financial criteria, which judge the return on weighted average assets, distribution return on investment, and management expense ratio on gross assets, saw Capital Properties and Colonial First State Property Trust take first and second place overall.

Capital's first place was the result of a score of 183.3 out of a possible total of 200.

New Zealand companies also did well in the investment criteria rankings, which include one- and three-year returns, volatility and trading volume, with Newmarket Property Trust in third place and Property For Industry in sixth.

The non-financial criteria rankings, judged on portfolio strategy, corporate governance, disclosure and online information, while more subjective, again saw New Zealand companies in the top 10 with PFI at number five and Kiwi Income Property Trust at 10.

Of particular interest was the change in fortunes of the individual sectors over the last two survey periods.

Most striking was the commercial sector replacing the retail sector as the most dominant force in the top ten.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet