Charter Hall Retail REIT reports $153.4M earnings

• Operating earnings rose 4% to $153.4 million, delivering 26.4 cents per unit for the full year.
• Distributions increased 3.3% to 25.5 cents per unit as net tangible assets reached $5.03 per unit.
• The REIT completed its strategic transition to hold a 50% allocation in convenience net lease retail assets.

Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX:CQR) reported full-year operating earnings of $153.4 million, up 4% from the prior year.

The earnings growth supported a 3.3% increase in distributions to 25.5 cents per unit for securityholders.

"Our shopping centre portfolio continues to perform strongly, with speciality tenant retention increased to a record 86%, as many of our trade areas continue to benefit from historically low levels of new retail supply," said Charter Hall Retail CEO Ben Ellis.

Portfolio occupancy reached 99.1% while net tangible assets increased 8.4% to $5.03 per unit.

Following the announcement, the Charter Hall Retail share price was up at $4.06.

Charter Hall Retail stated that FY27 operating earnings are expected to be no less than 27.3 cents per unit, representing a 3.5% growth over the previous year.

The group completed a major debt refinancing that reduced its debt margin by 40 basis points to 125 basis points.

Like-for-like net property income grew 3% across both shopping centres and net lease retail assets.