Kimco 3Q FFO falls 36%

NEW YORK: Kimco Realty Corp, the largest US strip mall owner and developer, reported a 36% drop in quarterly funds from operations, hurt by lower occupancy and stores vacated by bankrupt retailers.

The company, which also lowered its forecast for the year, reported late on Nov 4 that third quarter FFO fell to US$112.6 million (RM385.54 million) or 30 cents per share, compared with US$176.9 million, or 68 cents per share in the year-earlier period.

Excluding non-cash impairments and charges for the acceleration of deferred costs from early debt repayment, FFO was US$117.9 million, or 31 cents per share, meeting the average of analysts forecasts, according to Thomson Reuters.

FFO, a performance metric, removes the profit-reducing effect of depreciation, a noncash accounting item.Kimco owns or has an interest in 914 operating properties, 805 in the US and Puerto Rico, and others in Canada, Mexico and South America.

Occupancy at the company´s shopping centers in the US was 92.4% at the end of the third quarter and 91.9%.

For US properties Kimco has operated at least a year, net operating income, which reflects the net cash the properties generate, fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier. About 2 percent of that was due to lost revenue from bankrupt tenants Linens N Things, Circuit City and Value City. The company attributed the remainder to the decline in occupancy.

Third-quarter new leases were about 0.2 percent lower than expiring ones because of lower rates to re-lease spaces formerly occupied by Linens N Things and Circuit City. Renewals were about 2.1% higher than prior leases.-- Reuters