Cromwell Property Group

Cromwell Property Group

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Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 27, 2026

Operator

I would now like to hand the conference over to Dr. Gary Weiss.

Please go ahead.

Gary Weiss

Thank you, and good morning to everyone and thank you for joining us today for Cromwell Property Group's results for the financial year ended 30 June 2026. I open today's presentation by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land from where this call is being hosted, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.

We pay our respects to their elders past and present. FY '26 was a year of disciplined execution against our strategic priorities.

Despite a still volatile global environment, Cromwell strengthened its investment management platform, expanded institutional capital partnerships, and maintained resilient portfolio performance. The board and management team remains focused on prudent capital allocation, maintaining financial flexibility, and supporting initiatives that enhance the quality and sustainability of earnings.

Our progress during the year reflects the benefits of a diversified platform and the strength of relationships we've built with our capital partners, customers, and broader stakeholders. While challenges remain across parts of the property market, we believe Cromwell is well positioned to capture opportunities that align with our strategic objectives and create long-term value for securityholders.

On behalf of the board, I would like to thank our people, customers, capital partners, and securityholders for their continued support and commitment throughout FY '26. Cromwell CEO Jonathan Callaghan will now take you through the results.

Jonathan Callaghan

Thank you, Gary. As Gary mentioned, FY '26 was a year of executing our strategy to grow our Australian investment management platform following the completion of the sale of the European platform.

We continued to deliver on our objective of building a larger, more diversified investment management platform, expanding and strengthening our income streams while maintaining the strong earnings contribution of our investment portfolio. Highlights of the year are outlined on slide 5.

During the year, group funds under management grew by 11.4% secured by $748 million from new institutional investors, further broadening and diversifying our capital partner base. Importantly, this helped to drive improved financial outcomes with FFO increasing by 5%.

Our investment portfolio remained resilient. With occupancy at 95.6% and no major vacancies until FY '28, the investment portfolio continues to provide the business a dependable and predictable income stream and underpins the financial performance of the group.

Valuations are up 4.7% on FY '25. This is the third consecutive six-month period of portfolio valuation increases.

This performance reflects the quality of the underlying assets and the effectiveness of targeted asset management initiatives. A key milestone for the group was the acquisition of the industrial platform, which expanded our capabilities and strengthened our position in a sector where we see attractive long-term opportunities and continued interest from capital partners.

We continued to invest alongside our capital partners through targeted co-investments, including with Stratus Real Estate in the Cromwell Industrial Partnership and through a new strategic venture with PAG, who have invested in a prominent office asset in Brisbane with us. These investments reinforce alignment with our capital partners and provide the opportunity for us to share in value creation with them.

We are encouraged by the level of engagement we continue to see from both existing and prospective capital partners across a range of investment strategies. I now turn to our operational performance highlights on slide 6.

FFO increased 5% underpinned by 11.4% growth in assets under management, while NTA rose to 3.6%. Importantly, we maintained a strong balance sheet with conservative gearing and ample liquidity to support future growth.

As you can see on slide 7, Cromwell's platform operates only in Australia and New Zealand with a total of $4.7 billion dollars of assets under management. Cromwell's investment management platform currently manages five direct property funds with capital sourced from retail, wholesale, and institutional partners.

In addition, we manage listed securities funds, have a 50% interest in the Oyster New Zealand funds management business, and manage separate mandates for two industrial developments for offshore investors. Turning to slide 8 of the results pack.

During FY '26, we continued to strengthen our responsible investment credentials, improving our S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment score and maintaining strong external recognition through GRESB and PRI. We also made further progress across our environmental metrics.

Market-based Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have reduced by 96% from our FY '22 baseline. Solar PV capacity expanded substantially due to due to the new industrial partnership, and we achieved improvements in both energy and water intensity.

Overall, these outcomes reflect our ongoing commitment to responsible investment, operational excellence, and sustainable long-term growth, ultimately leading to increased attractiveness of our portfolio and securityholder value. We have included some market data on slide 9, which reflects our belief that while market sentiment towards commercial property remains cautious, current conditions do not reflect the sector's medium-term fundamentals.

Transaction volume across each of the commercial sub-sect- sub-sectors has been resilient over 2026 year to date despite elevated geopolitical disruption. As uncertainty stabilizes, we expect capital activity and investor appetite to improve.

Demand in Australia's key markets remains resilient while supply constraints are becoming increasingly evident. Development feasibilities are very challenged, and construction cost pressures and labor shortages are unlikely to abate in the near term.

This supports a favorable outlook for occupancy levels and rental growth at high-quality existing assets where competition for space is often greater than the broader market. Importantly, Cromwell's portfolio is concentrated in better-performing precincts, positioning us to perform well through the near term.

Where we do have exposure to higher-vacancy precincts, Cromwell assets typically outperform the market, reflecting the quality of the buildings and our active management capability. These fundamentals underpin our confidence in the long-term opportunity for both our investment portfolio performance and our strategy to grow earnings through investment management.

I now pass to Michelle Dance, Cromwell's Chief Financial Officer, to talk in more detail about the financial performance of the group during FY '26.

Michelle Dance

Thank you, Jonathan. I will briefly cover the summary of FY '26 financial results on slide 11 before stepping through key drivers in more detail.

FY '26 was a solid year financially, with growth in funds from operations of 5% to $110.3 million. FFO has been adopted as the primary earnings measure for FY '26, moving away from operating profit for ease of comparison with our peers.

While deploying capital into accretive investments, we also maintained a strong balance sheet with gearing of 31.6% remaining towards the lower end of our target range and significant liquidity at $370.8 million dollars. Together with our diversified debt funding and prudent hedging strategy, this positions the group well to prudently deploy capital into future growth initiatives.

I'll now take you through the key components of the result, starting with earnings drivers during the period on slide 12. Investment portfolio EBIT was marginally lower due largely to a temporary vacancy at 400 George Street in Brisbane, which has been leased from the 1st of July 2026.

This was offset somewhat by strong growth across our investment management business and co-investments. Investment management platform EBIT grew, including investment income, reflecting contributions from our expanded industrial platform, development activities, and performance fees.

Following the divestment of our European platform and continuing onshore efficiency initiatives, the group lowered corporate costs. Finance costs were also lower, following the repayment of debt from proceeds of the transaction.

Turning to the balance sheet on slide 13 now. During the year, net assets increased to just over $1.5 billion with NTA increasing to 57.5 cents per security from 56 cents per security at FY '25.

This was driven by positive investment portfolio valuations. While gearing increased following our investment in the Cromwell Industrial Partnership and continued progress at the Barton 1 development, it remains comfortably within our target range of 30 to 40%.

Importantly, we retained substantial covenant headroom with an LVR of 36.8% against a covenant of 60 and interest cover of 4.3 times against a covenant of 2. Our debt profile remains well managed with 85.5% of debt hedged with a weighted average maturity of 2.3 years, reducing exposure to interest rate volatility.

Overall, we believe that the balance sheet is in a strong position, providing both resilience and capacity to support the continued growth of the business. I'll now hand over to Rob, our Chief Investment Officer, who will cover off activities in our investment portfolio and investment management platform.

Rob Percy

Thanks, Michelle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your time this morning.

We'll start with the investment portfolio on slide 15. The underlying fundamentals remained solid throughout FY '26.

Our portfolio of seven stabilized assets delivered a 4.7% increase in valuation. Occupancy remained high at 95.6%, while the portfolio generated strong leasing outcomes with more than 28,000 square meters of new or renegotiated leases completed during the year.

Completion of the lobby upgrade at 400 George Street, Brisbane supported the Queensland state government's exercise of its three-year lease option, securing 20,800 square meters of FY '27 lease expiries through to FY '30. This contributed to the asset's improved valuation and highlights the value created through targeted capital investment and active tenant engagement.

While like-for-like income was modestly impacted by a temporary 7,000 square meter vacancy at 400 George Street in Brisbane, the portfolio remains well positioned to capture future rental growth opportunities through lease expiries and small amounts of remaining vacancy in active markets. The quality of the income stream continues to be supported by a diversified tenant base with strong government tenant exposure and a weighted average lease expiry of 4.6 years.

Overall, these outcomes demonstrate that disciplined asset management continues to support port- portfolio performance, valuation resi- resilience, and long-term sustainable earnings. Turning to Cromwell's investment management platform starting on slide 18.

I'll begin with an overview of our platform, which is the main focus of growth for the group. Today, our platform spans funds management, development, property management, and strategic joint ventures, providing multiple avenues for earnings generation and capital deployment.

We have expanded both the scale and capability of our investment management platform, increasing the funds under management by 18% since FY '24, being the turning point of the business after exiting Europe and focusing on growth in Australia. Importantly, this growth has been achieved through targeted investments, new partnerships, and the expansion of specialist capabilities, particularly in the industrial sector.

Slide 19 outlines some key achievements in the investment management platform over the last financial year. We secured $748 million dollars of new investment mandates through the establishment of the Cromwell Industrial Partnership completed in December 2025 and the Brisbane office venture announced on the 1st of July 2026.

We progressed three development projects during the year, including Barton 1 in Canberra, with completion expected in the final quarter of FY '27, on time and on budget. We are completing the final stage of the Kilsyth Connect redevelopment and commencing stage two of Caboolture Connect logistics park, both in Adelaide on behalf of off- offshore institutional investors.

The expansion of our industrial capability is further outlined on slide 20. Since 2018, the industrial platform has delivered or repositioned more than 140,000 square meters across more than 20 projects, demonstrating the strength and depth of market expertise that came with the industrial platform boost.

Slide 20 provides an overview of the Cromwell Industrial Partnership. The portfolio comprises seven high-quality industrial assets valued at approximately $478 million dollars.

Occupancy remains strong at 98.6%, supported by a diverse tenant base and a WALE of 4.7 years. We continue to see significant opportunity to create value through active leasing, capital investment, and asset repositioning initiatives across the portfolio.

Our objectives remain clear: to continue to grow a diversified investment management business that delivers attractive outcomes for capital partners while generating sustainable earnings growth for Cromwell securityholders. I'll now hand back to Jonathan.

Jonathan Callaghan

As we look ahead uh to uh FY '27 on slide 24, our focus remains on disciplined execution across the business. We are well positioned to build on the momentum achieved during FY '26 by continuing to grow capital partnerships, progressing our development pipeline, and actively managing our investment portfolio.

Reflecting our confidence in the business and outlook, we are targeting an increased distribution of 3.1 cents per security for FY '27. Cromwell remains committed to delivering sustainable long-term returns for our securityholders.

Thank you for your continued support. I will now hand back to the call operator to open the Q&A portion of this call.

Operator

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press *1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.

If you wish to cancel your request, please press *2. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question.

The first question comes from the line of Connor with Eldridge. Please go ahead.

Conor Roddy

Hi, team. Good morning.

Just looking at the gap between the FFO and AFFO widened a fair bit from FY '25 to FY '26. Can you just give us a bit more color on on what drove that step-up and if you expect that to normalize in FY '27?

Uh,

Michelle Dance

FY '27, um is is probably a bit of a trough year. Um so AFFO is likely to be um yeah, anyway, if you have a look at the lease expiry profile, that's probably you know your best guide for um how AFFO FFO is going to trend over the next few years.

I will caveat that by uh it's very difficult to predict some of the key components of that uh in that trying to predict when tenants are actually going to perform fitted, um how they're going to call for them, we might be budgeting for something to be upfront and then they change their mind and it becomes um sort of abatement that tracks over the the lease um term. Uh and equally, um we have some significant expiries coming up in in '28 and uh in '30 um too.

Um and some of those leases are likely to be um things that we engage with tenants on quite early.

Jonathan Callaghan

The FY '26 um driver of um um of uh AFFO deductions were um effectively some repositioning of the assets that we've done at 400 George and um 700 Collins in particular. Um there's quite a a large whack of tenant incentives, but also lifestyle capex, um uh lifecycle capex, that that needs to be done in those buildings.

Um we still see we'll still see the echoes of those bills um coming out next next year, FY '27. We still see a reasonably large capex flow um in the the following year.

Um so similar sorts of amount to what you're seeing in FY '26 to FY '27.

Michelle Dance

Some of those things are like um the electrification of 700 Collins Street, which is part of the negotiations with the Bureau, which has helped to reset that asset. It's important to to look at some of that capex in the scheme of what it does for those assets in the long term in in enhancing sustainability both from a um income perspective, but also from an ESG perspective.

Jonathan Callaghan

The the other thing I'll add is that some of these lifecycle works are being driven as part of new lease

Michelle Dance

deals,

Jonathan Callaghan

for example, in Collins Street, where we we uh got the extension for BOM, uh part of that was we would do some lift upgrades and some other upgrades. They're they're largely the expenditures really fit to lease.

Conor Roddy

Thanks. That's that's very clear, guys.

Just on slide 12, looking at the comment around the partial recognition of deferred consideration from the Campbell Park sale, just in in co-investment income. What what did this relate to, and and how much did it contribute to the $6.4 million in co-investment EBIT?

Jonathan Callaghan

It relates to um so we sold Campbell Park a a few years back. Part of the consideration for that sale was deferred, subject to certain events happening.

Um we um are sort of pretty confident that those certain events are now going to happen, we've recognized um some of that earnings or or that deferred consideration in FY '26. Um about $4.3 million dollars was recognized.

Michelle Dance

Yeah.

Conor Roddy

All right. Thanks for your time, guys.

The

Operator

next question comes from the line of Winky Tan with Morningstar. Please go ahead.

Winky Tan

Hi. Good morning, Jonathan and Michelle.

Um I remember last year when you did that um acquisition for Terra Property Partners, you talked about there's potential um further consideration based on meeting uh whether you're meeting the per- performance hurdles. Just wondering um whether those performance hurdles have been met and what can we expect in FY '27?

Uh,

Jonathan Callaghan

no further consideration in FY '27. The further consideration is payable after 3 years, um and that is it's effectively a share of profit.

Um um yeah, if that's and that happens at the end of FY '27, measure the uh profit that we've made from this venture and we share some of that with um

Winky Tan

Stratus. Right, that's clear.

Um just the next one, can you talk about um some of your key assumptions for your FY '27 guidance? Uh uh uh um uh

Jonathan Callaghan

I think at this point, Winky, what we're confident in is in is saying is that the distribution will be 3.1 cents. Um broadly speaking, we expect a stronger performance from the investment portfolio next year, particularly as um that uh vacancy um in 400 George is filled up, but um otherwise broadly in line with what you've seen.

Winky Tan

Right. Are you expecting any um performance fees from your funds?

Jonathan Callaghan

Uh, there's always a little bit of performance fees, but probably not as much as performance fees that you will see in FY '26. Um this year we had a a good year for for performance fees, particularly coming from our um uh investment into uh securities funds, the Phoenix operating platform.

Um we don't we're not expecting that good year to extend into FY '27.

Winky Tan

Right. Uh and just last one from me, um what's your lease incentives for um for the office portfolio in the FY '26?

Jonathan Callaghan

They typically range, FY '26 was between about 35 and 40%. Um most of the leasing was done through uh Sydney and Brisbane.

We expect in future Brisbane leasing to the incentive to fall.

Winky Tan

Great. Thanks.

That's all for me. Thank you.

Jonathan Callaghan

Thanks, Winky.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today.

Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.