Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: Stockland keeps FY12 guidance, expects A$2.9 bln from selling assets

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Stockland keeps FY12 guidance, expects A$2.9 bln from selling assets May 1st 2012, 01:24 SYDNEY | Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:24pm EDT SYDNEY May 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Stockland on Tuesday confirmed its revised guidance for the year to June, and said it expected A2.9 billion of capital to be released for future investment by selling non-core office and industrial assets by 2017. In March Stockland cut its fiscal year 2012 earnings per share (EPS) guidance to 30.5 cents, down from a previous estimate of 31.6 cents. Stockland is Australia's second-largest property group and focuses on retail, retirement and residential sectors. Growing online shopping and weak consumer sentiment amid global economic uncertainty have put all of Stockland's key markets under pressure. Matthew Quinn, managing director for Stockland, said there were signs that the Australia's moribund residential market was nearing the bottom of its cycle, but he still expected hard times ahead. "We don't expect a fast recovery," he told a quarterly investors' briefing. "It's likely therefore that FY13 will be another challenging year, but we do expect that FY14 onwards will be very positive for this business," he added. Quinn said Stockland would sell its British portfolio of retail and office projects by 2013, and also unload Australian office and industrial assets by 2017, a move that would free up A$2.9 billion of capital. The company planned to spend A$2 billion of the released cash on retail development over the next five years and A$250 million on retirement village development. Shares of Stockland slipped 0.7 percent in morning trade, underperforming the sector index which rose 0.3 percent. (Reporting by Eriko Amaha; Editing by Eric Meijer) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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