By Maria Armental
Boston Properties Inc.'s (BXP) first-quarter profit rose sharply
as the real-estate investment trust recorded another gain on sales
of real estate.
The Boston-based company, which focuses on office space, raised
its projection for the year to between $5.35 and $5.45 a share in
funds from operations, compared with its earlier view of $5.28 to
$5.43 and the consensus of $5.38 a share.
Funds from operations is a key measure used by REITs to assess
performance. Boston Properties excludes real estate-related
depreciation and amortization along with impairment losses or gains
or losses associated with disposition activities from its FFO
calculations.
For the current quarter, the company projects FFO of $1.32 to
$1.34 a share, compared with the consensus of $1.24 a share,
according to Thomson Reuters.
For the most recent period, the company reported a profit of
$171.2 million, or $1.11 a share, compared with $54 million, or 35
cents a share, a year earlier. FFO were $1.30 a share, compared
with $1.20 a share a year earlier, well above the company's
projection of $1.22 to $1.24 a share.
Revenue rose nearly 8% to $618.5 million, compared with the
consensus of $596.7 million.
The percentage of leased properties in its portfolio fell to
90.3% from 91.7% a year earlier.
Shares, up 17% over the past 12 months, closed at $137.80 on
Monday.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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