Goodman Expects Operating Profit, Distribution Growth

Goodman Group (GMG.AU), which owns offices and industrial parks in countries including the U.S., forecast further growth in operating earnings as investors continued to bet that it will be a beneficiary of Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) planned retail offering in Australia.

Goodman said it expects an annual operating profit per security of 45.7 Australian cents in the 12 months through June, 2018. If achieved, that would be 6% higher than the 43.1 cents reported for the 2017 fiscal year.

The real-estate investment trust said it also expected similar growth in its annual distribution to 27.5 cents in the fiscal year that began last month.

The guidance was provided by Goodman alongside its fiscal 2017 result that included a net profit of 778.1 million Australian dollars (US$616.9 million) for the 12 months through June, down from A$1.27 billion a year earlier.

"Since 2014, our assets under management have grown to A$35 billion despite A$8 billion in asset sales, and over the last five years we have consistently delivered operating profit and EPS growth of greater than 7%," said Chief Executive Greg Goodman.

-Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2017 18:53 ET (22:53 GMT)