News Round Up

Colonial First State Property Trust has reported a net surplus of $3.71m for the three months to 30 June 2002, up 5.9% on the same period last year.

General manager Lloyd Cundy says the improved profit result reflects the addition of the Millennium Centre in Auckland and the strong cash flow generated by the trust’s property portfolio, which is virtually 100% tenanted.

Unitholders will receive a gross distribution of 2.63 cents per unit, as their first interim dividend this financial year. The distribution equates to an annualised gross 10.52 cents per unit.

Westpac talks to BT

The bank says that it had nothing further to announce but will "keep the market fully informed in line with its disclosure obligation".

Westpac has recently bought Rothschild Australia Asset Management and Hastings Funds Management. The bank is keen to own a wrap account and master trust platform. BT in Australia is quite big in this area.

Westpac tried to buy BT from Deutsche Bank in 1999, but was beaten by the US-based Principal Financial Group, which paid A$2.1 billion for the operation.

AMP NZ Property fund sells retail centres
The AMP NZ Property Fund (APF) is proposing selling 50% of its interest in three Auckland retail centres as part of a portfolio rebalancing.

The three centres are Lynnmall Shopping Centre, Botany Town Centre and Manukau Supa Centa.

The fund is one of New Zealand’s largest property trusts with more than $500 million invested in office, industrial, retail and hotel property. The APF is selling its interests to return to benchmark.

Currently the fund is 60% invested in retail property. The partial sale of its interests in the three retail centres will return it to the recommended 40% benchmark weighting in retail property.

New standards for analysts
The Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) has released a draft paper on research objectivity standards.

‘The global stock market rout is at least partly attributable to a loss of investor confidence in the independence and objectivity of analyst reports. These proposed standards address the fundamental framework for research coverage and will substantially address the conflicts of interest that can arise in the research and recommendation process’ the head of the local AIMR chapter (the New Zealand Society of Investment Professionals) Louis Boulanger says.

‘The standards set forth ethical business practices that all key market participants throughout the world - including securities brokers, public companies and investment-management firms - should follow to create an environment that promotes objective securities research and analyst independence," he says

Commenting is closed