Kiwi Property Group reiterates dividend guidance

Kiwi Property Group chief executive Chris Gudgeon. Photo / File

Kiwi Property Group reiterated its dividend guidance at its annual general meeting and said its current projects are on track.

The company said its annual dividend payment for the year to March 31, 2019 will be 6.95 cents per share, up from 6.85 cents in the year to March 2018.

In his last AGM as chief executive Chris Gudgeon said this year the company will complete the No.1 Sylvia Park office building and central carpark building, while advancing the Galleria project. The $80 million No. 1 Sylvia Park office building includes nine levels of office accommodation and is slated to be complete in July, he said.

Anchor tenants include ANZ Bank - which will occupy five floors - and IAG insurance. IAG's starts in July this year and ANZ will be moving in stages during 2019.

Work will also continue on the new $36m carpark that will provide 600 additional parking spaces for our customers. The project is on-budget and on-time to complete in November 2018, ahead of the busy Christmas period, said Gudgeon.

The $223m Galleria project will be completed in mid-2020 and will add an additional 18,000 square metres of new retail space. The development is being carried out under a fixed-price contract.

At Drury it will be progressing the structure planning process with Auckland Council. According to Kiwi Property, it has control over 50 hectares of land that is destined, over time, to become a town centre.

"We are making good progress on an Auckland Council-led structure plan for the wider area that will inform future land uses and enable appropriate zoning changes to be achieved," Gudgeon said.

It will also settle the North City sale in July and complete Langdons Quarter at Northlands in Christchurch.

The project features a new dining precinct with 13 food operators, beneath a newly refurbished HOYTS cinema offer, together with seismic strengthening in that area. The project is on-time for completion in November 2018 and on-budget, he said. Leasing is progressing well.

In the office portfolio, the focus will be on new leasing with the aim of taking both the Vero Centre, and the portfolio as a whole, towards full occupancy.

Kiwi Property's portfolio is now valued at $3.1 billion, $82.6m higher than last year and it finished the 2018 financial year with an overall occupancy of 99.6 per cent.

Gudgeon announced he would be leaving in September after 10 years with the company and chairman Mark Ford said today that "the board should be in a position to announce Chris's successor in the very near future."

The shares slipped 0.7 per cent to $1.365 and have declined 2.1 per cent so far this year.