Investa Office Fund posted a 16 per cent increase in full-year net profit despite a challenging year for office markets.
Investa shares rose 1.1 per cent to $3.67 at 10.15am (AEST), against a benchmark index rise of 0.39 per cent.
The fund, controlled by Morgan Stanley, delivered $183.6 million in full-year net profit, compared with $158.7m a year ago.
Funds from operations, a key metric for real estate investment trusts (REITs), grew 6 per cent to $162.6m after adjusting for one-off items. FFO per share was 26.5 cents per unit, compared with 25.0 cents per unit in the previous year and also ahead of the most recent guidance of 26.3 cents per unit.
The fund executed over $800m of transactions in the year, with the impact of $454m in acquisitions of three Sydney assets offsetting the loss of income from the sale of its investment in the Dutch Office Fund in the first half.
Investa Office Fund, which controls over $7 billion of office building assets in key CBD areas across Australia, said it expected FFO per unit to grow 3 per cent to 27.3 cents per unit for fiscal 2015.
The fund has been the subject of constant takeover speculation, with GPT, Dexus and Charter Hall mooted to be likely buyers.
(Reporting by maggie.lu@businessspectator.com.au)