Kite swings to profit, but results disappoint Wall Street

Kite Realty Group Trust swung to a profit of $5.1 million for last year's fourth quarter on higher revenue, but its results fell short of Wall Street expectations, sending the shares down about 4 percent in early trading Friday.

The Indianapolis-based real estate company said late Thursday that earned 6 cents per share, compared with a loss of 6 pents per share in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Revenue grew to $87.4 million in the fourth quarter, largely due to the addition of properties in the portfolio of Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust Inc., which Kite purchased last summer. Analysts had expected revenue of $89.5 million.

Kite saw funds from operations, or FFO, increase to $43 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with $13.8 million, or 46 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. Analysts had expected 51 cents.

FFO is a common measure of performance for real estate investment trusts.

For the entire year, Kite reported a loss of $14.2 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with a loss of $11.3 million, or 48 cents per share, in 2013. The loss included merger and acquisition costs of $27.5 million.

Revenue in 2014 more than doubled, to $199.5 million.

Occupancy in its portfolio dipped slightly. Kite, which owned interest in 127 properties totaling 25.5 million square feet as of Dec. 31, said the properties were 96.1-percent leased, compared with 96.4 percent in 2013.

The company last year executed 229 new and renewed leases totaling 1.2 million square feet.