Commercial Property News

Goodman,the Australian based industrial property specialist  has announced it's 2008 results and has absorbed a $382.5 million writedown in it's UK asset values, out of it's $567 million income for the year. In the UK the company owns a portfolio of business and science parks in locations such as Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London.

The company said: "The underlying asset performance was strong with 4% rent growth achieved and occupancy up 1% to 95%. A thorough review of our portfolio was undertaken and a net valuation loss of $382.5 million was recorded for the year. This represents 4% of total assets. Movements were predominantly represented by a write-down in UK asset values and a fall in the price of our listed investments due to adverse market movements. These valuation losses were partially offset by gains in other markets, driven by growth in rental income.

Goodman Group CEO, Mr Gregory Goodman said: “This result is largely due to organic growth following a simple strategy of keeping focused on our core business and applying the same consistent approach across all markets. We have 371 investment properties under management and 97 developments globally, giving us the benefit of significant geographic and earnings diversity. This has enabled us to navigate through a difficult period. While no one can forecast when broader market conditions will improve, we believe that our business is in good shape to operate through the current cycle.

“To produce a result like this in the current environment is a testament to our more than 1,200 people around the world.
“We have maintained our balance sheet and liquidity and we have continued to execute on the fundamentals of leasing and development. Our Management business has continued to grow because we do these things well.

“All of the Group’s operations performed well over the period delivering an overall operating EBIT increase of 18% to $843.7 million. The composition of our earnings consisted of a 77% contribution from investment and management services, and 23% from our development activities. This was broadly in line with management forecasts provided to the market in August