Nathan Cross
Australia’s second largest property group, Stockland, is targeting a slice of the UK regeneration market.
The developer, which bought UK property group Halladale in February for A$525m (£222m), said, when reporting its full-year results, that the integration of the business was performing in line with expectations.
Managing director Matthew Quinn said he wanted to boost Stockland Halladale’s exposure to the residential sector, mirroring the Australian business model by focusing on large, mixed-use urban regeneration projects.
“We are eyeing some projects, and will hopefully get some momentum in the next year,” he said. “Halladale has always been a strong performer in the regions – in both Scotland and England – and we want to develop there as well as London.”
Halladale is contributing 5% to the company’s overall earnings, but Stockland wants to significantly increase that portion over the next three years.
Quinn said that the UK business would not see earnings per share increase in 2007-08 because of adjustments required under IFRS accounting standards.
“By 2009, we expect big things from the business,” he said. “Stockland Halladale was a key strategic acquisition and the first step in our UK/European expansion strategy.”
Stockland posted a 10.3% increase in operating profit to A$611m for the year ended 30 June. Pretax profits increased 43% to A$1.8bn. Its development pipeline increased to $3bn.
The company’s fund management division, Stockland Capital Partners, reported A$2.2bn of assets under management in Europe.
Quinn said the company was also considering launching property funds in Europe, but would not elaborate further.
