Liberty Property Profit Rises

Liberty Property Trust(LRY Quote), a real estate investment trust operator, said its second-quarter earnings rose 53.6% from the year-ago period, on gain on the sale of properties.

The company earned $68.5 million, or 76 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $44.6 million, or 51 cents a share, a year ago. Income from continuing operations rose 44.4% from a year ago to $52 million, or 58 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of $32.9 million, or 36 cents a share.

Second-quarter fund from operations fell 1.8% from a year ago to $75.6 million, or 80 cents a share. Operating results for the second quarter include lease termination fees of $3.8 million, or about 4 cents a share diluted FFO. Analysts were expecting fund from operations of 78 cents a share in the most recent quarter.

Second-quarter revenue rose marginally by 0.7% from a year ago to $168.97 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $167.97 million.

Second-quarter operating income fell 9.9% from a year ago to $67.3 million and operating margin declined 469 basis points to 39.8%. Operating income for same store properties increased by 1.0% on a cash basis and 0.3% on a straight line basis, compared with the same quarter a year ago.

During the second quarter, Liberty sold 14 operating properties containing 942,000 square feet for $101.7 million.

As of June 30, Liberty had 6.2 million square feet of wholly owned and joint venture properties under development, representing a total investment of $924.9 million, with an expected yield of 8.9%. The properties were 41.1% leased at quarter-end.