IRT Ends 2002 on High Note

The locally based REIT posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $10.8 million, up 92.7% from $5.6 million in the comparable 2001 period. Net earnings per diluted share increased 77.8% to 32 cents in the fourth quarter compared with 18 cents a year ago.

Fully diluted funds from operations in the quarter increased 20.4% to $12.39 million versus $10.29 million a year ago. For all of 2002, FFO jumped 6.6% to $44.29 million from $$41.55 million in 2001.

For the year, net earnings rose 24.3% to $31.3 million compared with $25.2 million in 2001. Net earnings per diluted share were 95 cents against 83 cents in 2001. Q4 earnings included gains of $3.1 million or nine cents per fully diluted share on the sale of three shopping centers.

Those sales, along with the sale of a pre-development property, brought in $21 million, a number that IRT chairman/CEO Thomas H. McAuley says helped the company's bottom line.

"We are encouraged with such a strong finish to the year and the overall positioning of the company as we enter the next stage in the evolution of our company--merging with Equity One (of North Miami Beach, FL) to become one of the largest shopping center owners in the Southeast."

On the leasing front, IRT ended 2002 with a 92% occupancy level at its 90 shopping centers totaling 9.8 million sf. "We have faced several challenges with the loss of several anchors due to bankruptcy and a weak retail environment, but our leasing results indicate that the increasing concentration of our portfolio in larger, higher growth markets has enabled us to work with new tenants that continue to have an interest in well-leased, grocery-anchored shopping centers," McAuley says.

In 2002, IRT lost two Kmart locations due to the Troy, MI-based retailer's downsizing and bankruptcy protection status, and the termination of a Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. lease.

In the development arena, IRT completed the redevelopment of Carrollwood Center in Tampa, FL and opened The Shops at Huntcrest in Atlanta, a 97,040-sf neighborhood center that is 90% leased and committed. In this year's fourth quarter, IRT expects to complete the 15,000-sf expansion to Unigold Center in Orlando.

"These two properties are good examples of the added value we can generate through development," McAuley says. The Shops at Huntcrest becomes the fifth new Publix-anchored development IRT has completed in the last two years and the company's first in the Atlanta area.