On 25 October 2024, Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) released the results for 2H2024 and FY2024 that ended on 30 September 2024. The presentation slides contain a lot of insightful information, and they can be found on FCT’s official website. The Usual Healthy Metrics From FCT FCT reported strong portfolio performance that reflected healthy leasing demand, with retail portfolio occupancy at 99.7% and an average rental reversion at +7.7%. Increased shopper traffic and sales for FY2024 saw higher numbers, with sales levels 20% above pre-COVID levels. Stable But Elevated Cost Of Debt (4.1%) Some aspects of REITs are easy to understand — shareholders want income to go up and expenses to go down. The bulk of a REIT’s expenses are attributed to debt costs, which have spiked in recent years due to rising interest rates. FCT management has stated that the cost of debt is expected to remain stable but elevated at around 4.1% for FY2025. Despite the pivot of the fed rate during the...