Like Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR), the other company in the Israeli shopping mall duopoly, Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG), released good 2015 financials today. Azrieli posted a smaller net profit than in 2014, down 3.7% to NIS 828 million, but excluding the results of subsidiary Granite Hacarmel Investments Ltd. (the businesses of which Azrieli is in the process of selling, first and foremost fuel company Sonol) profit rose 26% to NIS 906 million. Azrieli's FFO (funds from operations) rose 9% in 2015 to NIS 1.2 billion. Asset revaluations contributed NIS 180 million to profit in 2015, compared with NIS 29 million in 2014.
The fourth quarter results were also strong. FFO grew 10% to NIS 227 million and NOI (net operating income) grew 10% to NIS 323 million. Net profit rose 32% to NIS 288 million, while excluding Granite Hacarmel it rose 48.2% to NIS 295 million.
At the end of 2015, the company had assets totaling NIS 26.4 billion, 4% more than at the end of 2014, and shareholders' equity also grew 4%, to NIS 13.8 billion. Azrieli's market cap is NIS 18 billion.
Azrieli declared a dividend of NIS 400 million, NIS 3.3 per share. The 2014 dividend was NIS 320 million. Since the company first distributed a dividend in 2012, the dividend per share has risen 67%.
The company owns income producing assets with total space of 907,000 square meters. It is also in the process of constructing eight new projects with space totaling 475,000 square meters, at an investment of over NIS 5 billion. Azrieli management estimates that six of these will be completed by 2018 and will add some NIS 400 million to NOI.
Azrieli CEO Yuval Bronstein told "Globes", "Private consumption in the Israeli economy continues to expand, as Central Bureau of Statistics data show, and that is manifest in the turnover figures at our malls. The high-tech industry also continues to grow at impressive rates and most of our assets are located in Tel Aviv and Herzliya, so that we are also enjoying good results from our offices business."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 23, 2016
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