Southeast REIT Posts Strong Fourth Quarter/Year

The company is hosting a conference call at 2 p.m. today to review fourth quarter and year-end results. The conference call number is 800 482 5543, ID#911258.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, FFO increased 14.5% to $12.6 million from $11 million in the same 1999 period. On a diluted per share basis, FFO rose 13.85% to 66 cents per share compared with 58 cents per share in the comparable 1999 period.

For the year, FFO was $47.8 million compared with $39.6 million, up 20.7%. FFO per diluted share increased 10.5% to $2.52 per share versus $2.28 per share for 1999.

In a prepared statement, EastGroup president/CEO David H. Hoster II attributes the REIT's 2000 performance to "high occupancy, successful re-leasing activities and a growing industrial property base in core submarkets." EastGroup's portfolio comprises 17 million sf of industrial with an additional 913,000 sf under development.

Hoster also credits the company's funds flow from investments in other REITs. For example, EastGroup received a final liquidating distribution of $792,000, net of expenses, from Franklin Select Realty Trust and recorded that amount as a gain in the disposition of its FSN shares.

From another REIT, Pacific Gulf Properties, EastGroup received an initial distribution of $22 per share and recorded a gain of $807,000. EastGroup expects to receive an additional $7 per PAG share in 2001 from PAG's distribution of cash as it sells its remaining assets. EastGroup owns 487,100 shares of PAG.

Total shareholder returns for the year were 30%, the sixth consecutive year the REIT's total return to shareholders exceeded the NAREIT Equity Index average total return, Hoster states in the year-end report. EastGroup paid a fourth-quarter dividend of 41 cents per share of common which represented 62% of FFO per diluted share.

The company has increased the dividend for eight consecutive years. The fourth-quarter dividend, representing an annualized dividend rate of $1.64 per share, was the 84th consecutive quarterly distribution to EastGroup's common stockholders.