A plan to include a second income statement in property companies’ annual reports is among recommendations from the European Public Real Estate Association.
EPRA, which has Hammerson non-executive chairman Ron Spinney as its chairman, is keen to promote transparency and attract fresh investment into the listed sector.Ê
The EPRA page would provide an opportunity for those companies reporting under national guidelines to also present figures following the International Accounting Standards guidelines.
This would give investors consistency when comparing companies across the sector.
It is hoped that the EPRA page would bridge any reporting problems for property companies during the switch over to IAS, which comes into force at the end of 2005.
Some property companies already follow IAS, but many still use national guidelines.
“We are trying to add to the transparency of the reports of property companies and, more important, add to the consistency of reports so investors looking at companies know they are comparing like with like,” said Jon Zehner, vice-chairman of global real estate investment banking for JP Morgan and a board member of EPRA.
