Argosy portfolio ‘resilient’
Retail property has fallen in value at large property company Argosy because of the impact of coronavirus on retail trade, but industrial and office buildings have risen.
The company’s portfolio of properties rose overall by 3.6 per cent from a year ago, to be worth $1.78 billion on March 31.
Argosy chief executive Peter Mence said: ‘‘We are very pleased to see our diversified portfolio of quality assets demonstrating resilience in challenging times.’’
It contrasts with Kiwi Property’s announcement its overall portfolio of shopping centres and office buildings had fallen in value by 8.5 per cent, almost $300 million, to $3.1b. Kiwi’s portfolio has a much greater proportion of retail properties than Argosy’s.
The value of Argosy’s retail portfolio, generally large-format retail stores, including Albany Mega Centre, north Auckland, declined 6.5 per cent to $184.5 million.
Argosy’s industrial buildings rose most in value, by 6.8 per cent to $842.8m while office buildings rose by 2.9 per cent to $756m.
Since desk-top valuations were done in September last year, the emergence of Covid-19 had changed the current global economic environment, Mence said.
For the March 31 valuations, independent valuers had made adjustments to rental and vacancy assumptions, particularly for properties they considered to be the most affected by Covid-19.
Auckland was the largest contributor to the revaluation gain with $49.7m, or 81 per cent, of the total portfolio gain. The valuations are being audited by Deloitte and would be confirmed in the financial results to be announced on May 20.