Kite Realty sees quarterly decline in revenue, earnings

Kite Realty Group Trust met expectations of analysts with its third-quarter performance, the Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust said Thursday.

Kite reported quarterly funds from operations of $41.8 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $43.6 million, or 51 cents, in the same period of 2016. The FFO results matched the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

FFO is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry that takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

Kite said the "year-over-year decline in FFO was primarily due to the sale of four operating properties and the use of the resulting proceeds to pay down debt."

The company reported a loss of $622,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $1.7 million, or 2 cents per share, a year ago.

Kite posted revenue of $87.1 million in the period, down from $89.1 million in the third quarter of 2016. The revenue which fell just short of Wall Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $87.9 million.

Kite said it expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $2.03 to $2.05 per share, a revision of its previous guidance of $2.01 to $2.05 per share.

As of Sept. 30, the company had two projects under construction totaling nearly $92 million.

Kite owns interests in 117 properties totaling 23.1 million square feet. Its portfolio is 94.6 percent leased.

Shares of Kite closed at $18.94 each Thursday, a 26 percent drop from their 52-week high of $25.53.