Colonial On Traget For Distribution to Shareholder

Colonial First State Property Trust On Target With First Distribution To Unitholders

The Colonial First State Property Trust has announced that its first distribution to Unitholders would take place on 15 December 1999. Unitholders will receive a gross distribution of 3.4 cents per unit made up of 2.8 cents cash and a 0.6 cent imputation credit. The distribution represents an annualised gross yield of 10.3% in line with the Prospectus forecast.

The announcement follows the Trust's interim net surplus of $4.619m, for the period ended 30 September 1999, up $94,000 on the Prospectus forecast. Net income for the same period was up $274,000.

General Manager Lloyd Cundy said the result demonstrates the Trust's ability to provide Unitholders with an attractive and reliable income stream. The Trust was focused on maintaining and enhancing the quality of its property portfolio, with the key objective being long-term security of income to investors in the Trust.

"We're very pleased with the good performance of the portfolio, which is as expected. It's been a busy few months for us. The completion of several refurbishment projects has created improved and additional lettable area, and the successful completion of 101 Carlton Gore Rd means another fully tenanted building will be added to the Trust in December," Mr Cundy said.

Mr Cundy expected the current undervaluation of Colonial First State Property's unit price on the NZSE to change as investors became more aware of the Trust's performance and benefits of investing in a listed property trust. He pointed out the Trust's NTA has improved to 97.85 cents from its Prospectus forecast of 97.24 cents.

Mr Cundy predicted that listed property trusts would become the most prominent commercial property investment vehicle in New Zealand, following the trend now firmly established in Australia and the United States.

ENDS....

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