Good times continue for Goodman Group (ASX:GMG), the listed commercial and industrial property group, with a second earnings upgrade in a few months for the year ending June 30.
The company told a Sydney investment conference on Wednesday that it is now forecasting a 13% rise in operating earnings per share for the 2023-24 financial year, up from the 11% upgrade earlier this year and the 9% forecast at the time of the release of the 2022-23 results in August of last year.
Given that Goodman reported operating earnings per share of 94.3 cents for 2022-23, the figure for 2023-24 looks to be around $1.06-$1.07 per security.
Operating earnings per security rose 16% in 2022-23 and were up 28% at the December 31 half-year mark at 59.2 cents per security. This was a significant increase from the weak first half of 2022-23, when activity was emerging from the pandemic lockdowns and other restrictions.
The upgrade supports the strong rise in Goodman Group securities, which are up 37% year-to-date and 72% in the past 12 months.
The company stated in the presentation on Wednesday that its total portfolio increased by $1.5 billion to $80.5 billion at the end of the three months to March. It also mentioned that, "While investors remain cautious, there continues to be demand for our high-quality industrial and digital infrastructure assets. The weighted average cap rate across the total portfolio remains at 5.1%."
"Partnerships remain in a strong financial position with low leverage and $16.5 billion of equity commitments, cash, and undrawn debt,” Goodman said in the presentation.
Goodman further disclosed that as of March 31, it had $12.9 billion of development work in progress across 82 projects worldwide and completed $800 million of work in the quarter.
The company also stated that several sites it and its partners owned or were looking at were being assessed for data centers (the company has been stepping up investment in this growth sector for several years now).
