ProLogis Trust (PLD)

[califax]

ProLogis Reports Fourth Quarter/Year-end 2009 Results

Date : 02/11/2010 @ 8:00AM
Source : PR Newswire
Stock : Prologis (PLD)

http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&cb=1265905363&article=41493173&symbol=NY^PLD

ProLogis Reports Fourth Quarter/Year-end 2009 Results

- Full-year FFO per Share in Line with Previous Guidance - - Property Market Fundamentals Showing Signs of Improvement - - Company Establishes 2010 Guidance -

DENVER, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

ProLogis (NYSE:PLD), a leading global provider of distribution facilities, today reported funds from operations as defined by ProLogis (FFO), excluding significant non-cash items, of $1.15 per diluted share in 2009, compared with $3.51 for 2008. (See Summary of Results table for details). These amounts reflect the add back of impairments on real estate properties, goodwill and other assets totaling $0.81 per diluted share in 2009 and $3.01 in 2008. ProLogis reported a net loss per diluted share of $0.01 for 2009, compared with a net loss of $1.82 for 2008.

For the fourth quarter, FFO, excluding significant non-cash items, was $0.13 per diluted share in 2009, compared with $0.56 in 2008. These amounts reflect the add back of impairments on real estate properties, goodwill and other assets totaling $0.78 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2009 and $3.04 in 2008. For the fourth quarter of 2009, the company reported a net loss per diluted share of $0.86, compared with a net loss of $3.39 in the same period of 2008.

Reconciliation to Previous Guidance

In addition to the non-cash impairment charges referred to above, the company experienced various non-recurring charges in the fourth quarter and earlier in 2009, as detailed below. FFO, excluding significant non-cash items and non-recurring charges, was $1.41 per diluted share for the full year, in line with the company's previous guidance of $1.39 to $1.43. For the fourth quarter, FFO, excluding significant non-cash items and non-recurring charges, was $0.23 per diluted share.

Three Months Twelve Months Ended Ended December 31, December 31, 2009 2009 ---- ----

FFO, excluding significant non-cash items $0.13 $1.15 Add (deduct) non-recurring charges: Indemnifications related to contributed or sold properties 0.08 0.09 Realized losses on foreign currency transactions - 0.05 Capital markets costs 0.03 0.04 ProLogis' share of losses on sale of fund assets - 0.03 Reduction in workforce - 0.03 Other 0.01 0.04 Adjustments to tax and compensation-related liabilities (0.02) (0.02) ---- ---- Add summarized non-recurring charges 0.10 0.26 ---- ---- FFO, excluding significant non-cash items and non-recurring charges $0.23 $1.41

Significant Accomplishments in 2009 Position Company for Future Opportunities

"We began 2009 with an action plan and aggressive goals related to asset dispositions, debt reduction and development portfolio leasing," said Walter C. Rakowich, chief executive officer. "Throughout the year, we made tough choices and remained highly focused on stabilizing the company. We are pleased to have accomplished our goals, putting the company on firm financial footing and positioning us to take advantage of opportunities as market conditions improve."

Among ProLogis' specific goals for 2009 were to: reduce debt by $2 billion, complete $1.5 to $1.7 billion of asset dispositions and contributions to property funds (exclusive of the sale of certain Asian operations) and achieve static development portfolio leasing of 60 to 70 percent. At year end 2009, the company had reduced debt by $2.7 billion, completed $1.53 billion of property dispositions and contributions and achieved static development portfolio leasing of 68.2 percent.

Continued Signs of Stabilization and Improvement in Property Markets

"While focusing on our action plan, we also worked diligently to maintain stable occupancies in our core portfolio," Rakowich added. "The bottoming of market occupancies and rents that we began to see in mid-2009 held up in the fourth quarter, with some markets showing improvement. For the top 31 North American markets we track, overall net demand turned positive in the fourth quarter, and we saw similar pockets of positive take-up in Europe. And, although we expect net effective rental rates on turnovers to be negative throughout 2010, we believe improving occupancies and the continued lack of new supply will pave the way for improving rental rates in 2011."

ProLogis' non-development portfolio was 92.4 percent leased at the end of the fourth quarter, down slightly compared with 92.7 percent leased at September 30. Same-store net operating income (SS NOI), as adjusted (excluding same-store assets associated with the company's development portfolio), decreased 4.2 percent, a slight improvement over the third quarter SS NOI decline. Net effective rental rates on turnover of 23.6 million square feet, or 6.0 percent of the adjusted same-store pool, were down 11.7 percent for the quarter, representing an improvement over the third quarter decline.

Build-to-Suit Development Demand Supports Reductions in Land Position

"While new speculative development has remained virtually non-existent, during the fourth quarter we continued to see demand for build-to-suit development from customers whose supply chain optimization requirements could not be met with the available supply of space," said Ted R. Antenucci, chief investment officer. ProLogis' fourth quarter starts consisted of a 667,000-square-foot facility for a major home improvement retailer in Southern California and a 504,000-square-foot facility for a leading UK retailer in Scotland. Including joint venture partner capital contributions, total expected investment for all build-to-suit developments started in the second half of 2009 is $336 million.

"Given the continued interest from customers in build-to-suits, we expect to start $700 to $800 million of new development in 2010, primarily in Europe and Asia. We also will continue to pursue land sales, which when combined with new development, will allow us to begin to monetize roughly $350 to $400 million of land in 2010," Antenucci added.

Strategic Repositioning of Asset Base

"In 2009, we used the proceeds from nearly $2.9 billion of contributions and dispositions, including the sale of certain Asian operations, to reduce debt and fund our development portfolio," said Rakowich. "Having stabilized our balance sheet, we are now looking to fund new development activity in a slightly different, leverage-neutral manner. Due to improving property values and growing institutional demand for quality properties, in 2010 we plan to generate $1.3 to $1.5 billion of proceeds from sales of existing assets and contributions to funds, primarily in the United States, and use the proceeds to fund the remaining costs associated with our existing development portfolio as well as 2010 development starts. This approach will allow us to retain more of our non-US development on our balance sheet, thereby improving the geographic diversification of our direct owned assets."

Continued Financing Progress for ProLogis and Property Funds

"We continued to focus on further extending and smoothing the debt maturities both on ProLogis' balance sheet and in our property funds," said William E. Sullivan, chief financial officer. "In the fourth quarter, we issued $600 million of 10-year, ProLogis senior notes and closed on a $108 million secured financing in Japan on our balance sheet. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, we closed on euro 886 million of financings in our European funds, effectively reducing 2010 maturities within those funds to approximately euro 327 million. This is significant progress from the over euro 1.8 billion of 2010 fund debt maturities we were faced with at the beginning of 2009."

Guidance for 2010

ProLogis established full-year 2010 FFO guidance, excluding significant non-cash items, of $0.74 to $0.78 per share, of which approximately $0.10 relates to expected gains on dispositions of development and land. Net earnings are expected to be between $0.25 and $0.29 per diluted share. A summary of the business drivers supporting ProLogis' 2010 guidance is available at http://ir.prologis.com/2010BusinessDrivers.cfm.

Copies of ProLogis' fourth quarter 2009 supplemental information will be available from the company's website at http://ir.prologis.com/ in the "Annual & Supplemental Reports" section before open of market on Thursday, February 11, 2010. The company will host a webcast/conference call on Thursday, February 11, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The live webcast and the replay will be available on the company's website at http://ir.prologis.com/. Additionally, a podcast of the company's conference call will be available on the company's website.

About ProLogis

ProLogis is a leading global provider of distribution facilities, with more than 475 million square feet of industrial space owned and managed (44 million square meters) in markets across North America, Europe and Asia. The company leases its industrial facilities to more than 4,400 customers, including manufacturers, retailers, transportation companies, third-party logistics providers and other enterprises with large-scale distribution needs. For additional information about the company, go to http://www.prologis.com/.

Follow ProLogis on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ProLogis

The statements above that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry and markets in which ProLogis operates, management's beliefs and assumptions made by management, they involve uncertainties that could significantly impact ProLogis' financial results. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future - including statements relating to rent and occupancy growth, development activity and changes in sales or contribution volume of developed properties, general conditions in the geographic areas where we operate and the availability of capital in existing or new property funds - are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained and therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that may affect outcomes and results include, but are not limited to: (i) national, international, regional and local economic climates, (ii) changes in financial markets, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates, (iii) increased or unanticipated competition for our properties, (iv) risks associated with acquisitions, (v) maintenance of real estate investment trust ("REIT") status, (vi) availability of financing and capital, (vii) changes in demand for developed properties, and (viii) those additional factors discussed in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by ProLogis under the heading "Risk Factors." ProLogis undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements appearing in this press release.

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