THE MacarthurCook Property Securities Fund (ASX:MPS) is on track to repay all debt by the end of 2013.
The fund reported a net loss of $3,327,000 for the financial half year to 31 December 2012 compared to a net loss of $8,629,000 for the previous corresponding period. The loss was largely due to the write down of the value of the fund’s investment in APN Champion Retail Fund, from $3,033,000 at June 30, 2012 to zero. Associated with that write down, the fund’s total assets were valued at $54.4 million, compared to $61.0 million as at 30 June 2012.
MacarthurCook Chairman George Wang said since assuming control in mid-2009 the focus has been on reducing what was an unsustainably high debt of $45 million.
“We have succeeded to the extent that the fund will effectively be debt free in the near future, when the remaining debt will be repaid from existing cash flows or disposals.
“This leaves us very well placed to consider and execute initiatives that will reward all of our unitholders and be value accretive, such as recommencing income distributions, reinvesting capital into new investments or a buy back if the share price to NTA remains at such a steep discount,” he added.
“Going forward we believe this patient, long-term strategy will provide us opportunities to improve the performance of the portfolio and selectively consider long term value accretive acquisitions and investments.
“Certainly now is not the time to conduct disposals or pursue short term strategies that don’t adequately capture the value of the fund’s underlying assets,” he added.
Property Review
