Federation Centres has upgraded its full-year earnings expectations on forecast savings from debt restructuring, overhead reductions and increased earnings from acquisitions after posting a lift in first-half profit.
Statutory net profit lifted to $226.7 million in the six months to December 2013, compared with $115.9 million in the six months to December 2012.
Total revenue was $268.7 million in the half-year, down slightly from $269.3 million in the previous corresponding period.
The group declared a distribution of 7.5 cents per stapled security, payable on February 28.
The company now expects full-year earnings in the range of 16.7 cents to 17.0 cents per security, with distributions representing a payout ratio of between 95 per cent and 105 per cent of adjusted funds from operations.
Federation Centres managing director Steven Sewell said the group made good progress on restructuring its funding arrangements and rebranding its portfolio in the half.
"Although there are early signs that consumer confidence is improving, for the half year to December 2013 conditions remained challenging," Mr Sewell said.
The group has rebranded 24 key centres since launching the Federation Centres brand just over a year ago and expects to rebrand the remaining centres by December 2014.
The portfolio was expanded to 57 shopping centres in the half through the acquisition of Carlingford Court in Sydney and another 10 convenience and sub-regional centres valued at $327.7 million in the period.