Stockland warns of earnings hit

17 Oct 2012, 4:28 pm   -   Source: AAP
Property developer Stockland says weakness in the housing market will cause its earnings to fall. (AAP)

Property developer Stockland says weakness in the housing market will cause its earnings to fall. (AAP)

A severe downturn in the new house market is set to take a chunk out of developer Stockland's earnings in the 2012/13 financial year.

Shares in housing developer Stockland have fallen by almost four per cent after it said the property slump could cause full year earnings to fall by up to 15 per cent.

Managing director Matthew Quinn recently described the new housing market as the worst he had seen for 20 years, and on Wednesday said nothing had improved.

"I said in August that without a significant improvement in the residential market in the first quarter, our earnings per share (EPS) in FY13 will be lower than last year," Mr Quinn told Stockland's annual general meeting.

"Unfortunately, it is now clear that this will be the case."

EPS in 2012/13 is likely to be about 10 per cent lower than the previous year's 21.2 cents, he said.

That could fall by up to another five per cent if conditions don't improve in Victoria, where Stockland's profit per lot is higher than in the rest of the country.

Stockland shares lost 13 cents, or 3.7 per cent, to $3.42 at the close of trade.

Mr Quinn said the company may be able to recover the expected decline in EPS in the 2013/14 financial year, when it expects major residential projects to be completed.

But expectations of a recovery were not solely reliant on an improvement in property market conditions, he said.

While conditions were tough for Stockland's residential business, Mr Quinn said its other property assets would continue to produce predictable rent income.

Net income on its shopping centre assets is expected to grow by up to three per cent in 2012/13, he said.

Mr Quinn was speaking at his last AGM as Stockland managing director before stepping down in early 2013.

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