Good morning and thanks, everyone, and thanks again. I'm Gordon Korkie, Fund Manager of Dexus Industria REIT, or DXI. Apologies in advance, I've succumbed to a bit of a cold, so hence the raspy voice and potentially the odd cough. In today's presentation, I'm just waiting for the slides to come up.
We may have an issue there. If you just ask for the next, can we get Gordon Korkie's holding slide up, please? His first slide of his presentation.
Thank you. Excellent, thank you.
Victoria may not be online just yet, so if you just ask for the next slide.
Okay, not a problem. Thank you. As I was saying, in today's presentation, I'll be looking to provide a bit of an update on DXI's investment proposition, an overview of the industrial property market, and how we're positioning DXI to leverage current market conditions, as well as our track record in delivering resilient performance to create long-term value for our investors. Before we get started, I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the many lands on which we operate and pay our respects to elders past and present. DXI is an industrial-focused REIT with a high-quality and geographically diverse portfolio that delivers resilient income and capital growth. Our investment proposition is to generate strong risk-adjusted returns for our investors who are seeking listed industrial real estate exposure. We achieve this by focusing on three key objectives.
First, we invest in a high-quality portfolio that is capable of delivering strong organic income growth with clear development upside. Secondly, we take an active but disciplined approach to portfolio management to ensure that we maximize the value-adding opportunities within our portfolio, as well as minimizing portfolio risk. Thirdly, we practice prudent balance sheet management, which provides resilience and flexibility to invest opportunistically throughout the economic cycle. Having Dexus as an aligned and committed manager enables us to access not only Dexus's industrial asset management platform, but also the opportunity pipeline that comes with that and the expertise to optimize value for our investors. We now believe that we're entering a period of market opportunity for DXI. The current market dynamics appear supportive, with the potential share price re-rating potentially in the offering.
In addition to structural drivers, including strong population and e-commerce growth, as well as moderating supply and land scarcity, we're now partway through a rate-cutting cycle, which should drive NTA and earnings growth moving forward. DXI has a well-located and diversified portfolio of predominantly industrial assets, and these assets are able to reach about 80% of the population in each Australian capital city within 60 minutes. This urban proximity makes our portfolio highly attractive to a broad range of high-quality tenants that help support the resilience, as well as the growing income profile that can be achieved from the strong leasing outcomes that we can achieve on the back of these characteristics. Before I delve into the fundamentals of our portfolio, I'd like to provide some context around the Australian industrial property market and where we see opportunity.
The structural tailwinds in our sector remain favorable for industrial demand, and while we've seen a moderation in demand, it is noteworthy that this is relative to the exceptional highs experienced in recent years due to the impact of the COVID pandemic, with current demand remaining robust, especially in a historical context. As we look forward, Australia's population growth and rising e-commerce penetration are expected to drive incremental annual warehouse take-up of approximately 2.5 million square meters per annum, which means that the market will require over 12 million square meters by 2030. Furthermore, online market share forecasts are expected to grow from 14% to 19% by 2030, with expansion of same-day delivery services further boosting demand for well-located modern logistics space. With demand for industrial space expected to continue to rise, we then look to the market supply dynamics.
Elevated land and construction costs, coupled with planning delays, are expected to constrain new supply, and forecast supply for calendar year 2025 has already been revised down by nearly 900,000 square meters, reflecting a broader slowing down of development activity. Developers are actually responding rationally to market conditions, shifting away from speculative builds towards pre-committed projects. This disciplined supply response is expected to underpin continued favorable market conditions for investors moving forward. As we can see on slide seven, vacancy rates across Australia's major cities remain low by global standards, and as such, we continue to see strong interest from foreign capital who are attracted to the favorable fundamentals of the Australian industrial sector. In addition, the pace of capitalization rate expansion has moderated, which is a trend reflected in our own valuation outcomes. This combination is supporting stronger asset price discovery and reinforcing investors' confidence in high-quality industrial assets.
With exposure to these core Australian markets and modern income-generating assets, DXI is well-positioned to benefit from these market dynamics moving forward. Within this market context, DXI has recently transitioned our portfolio to re-weight to a 100% focused industrial REIT. In early August, we entered into agreements to divest our remaining 13 business park assets at Brisbane Technology Park, or BTP, for a net price of $155.5 million. The sale is structured across two transactions, with the first transaction, which represents 11 of the 13 assets, having just settled at the end of August. The second transaction is expected to settle by early November this year. In parallel, we've already acquired an urban logistics warehouse at 30 Cox Place, Glen Denning. This asset is located in a high-demand, land-constrained industrial precinct in Sydney, providing excellent connectivity to the M7 and proximity to Sydney's population growth corridors.
It not only enhances our exposure to the Sydney industrial infill market, but also offers attractive value-add potential. These transactions mark a milestone in DXI's evolution into a 100% focused industrial REIT, and this transition will strengthen our cash flow resilience and positions us to capture long-term structural demand in our higher growth logistics markets. During FY25, DXI's industrial portfolio continued to deliver strong operating performance with resilient income growth. Approximately 83% of our industrial income is subject to fixed rental increases that average 3.3% in FY25, while retaining upside to CPI, as evidenced by our portfolio's average rental view of 3.5% for the year. We have an attractive WALE of 5.9 years, and our industrial occupancy remains very high at 99.5%.
In maintaining these metrics, we continue to manage our lease expiry profile over time, which was evidenced last year through the early renewal of two of our largest tenants at Jandakot, covering over 73,000 square meters, which materially de-risked our near-term lease expiry profile by extending these leases to FY31 and beyond. Our top 10 tenants include some of the world's most recognisable brands across a diverse mix of sectors, which continue to perform well and represent approximately 46% of portfolio income. This high quality and diversity enhances income resilience, reduces concentration risk, and provides exposure to a broad range of economic drivers. Our top tenant is Westrac, representing 18% of total income, with approximately nine years remaining on the lease. Westrac's long-term commitment is reflected in their investment at Tamargo, a flagship facility which integrates large-scale solar, as well as automation to enhance operational efficiency and support sustainability.
DXI's development pipeline at Jandakot represents a $230 million investment spanning over 260,000 square meters. We are targeting yields on cost above 6.25%, with the potential to actually achieve incremental returns which exceed 8%. These projects are tailored to meet the evolving needs of modern occupiers, with high-spec design, sustainability features, as well as flexible layouts to support long-term leasing demand and improve portfolio quality. Our recent development completions include 644 Carroll Avenue, which is fully leased at a 6% yield, to eliminate short-term refinancing risk with no maturities until FY27. A key strength for DXI is our ability to leverage the deep expertise, as well as the insights from Dexus's $11 billion industrial portfolio, and the extensive platform capabilities to drive value and growth for our investors.
Dexus has over four decades of expertise across acquisitions, developments, leasing, and asset management, with a proven track record of delivering for investors. Through its 7.5% ownership in DXI, Dexus is strongly aligned and committed to driving value across our portfolio. We also remain committed to delivering meaningful sustainability outcomes that can generate both environmental and financial benefits for our investors. DXI's approach aligns to the Dexus sustainability strategy, which includes three priority areas, being customer prosperity, climate action, and enhancing communities. Our sustainability initiatives include rooftop solar, battery storage, as well as maintaining high NABERS ratings, which not only reduce the environmental impacts but also enhance the asset appeal and long-term value of the portfolio. DXI's security price continues to trade around a 15% discount to its net tangible assets per security, or NTA.
We see the potential for the security price to re-rate and narrow this discount, given our resilient organic income growth fundamentals, as well as a very attractive distribution yield of around 6%, as well as some of the favorable market conditions I highlighted earlier. As with the broader real estate sector, Dexus Industria REIT is well placed to benefit from further rate cuts through both earnings and portfolio valuations, and in theory, these benefits should flow through to our security price performance as well. DXI's current trading levels represent a compelling investment opportunity to access embedded value, as well as future growth. In summary, DXI is well placed to continue to deliver long-term value for investors, supported by a resilient earnings profile and a strong, flexible balance sheet. We've built a track record in activating high-quality developments, which enhance portfolio quality, as well as driving long-term growth.
Furthermore, our positive leverage to the lower interest rates cycle should further support growth in earnings and net tangible asset (NTA). Looking forward to fiscal year 2026, bearing any unforeseen circumstances and factoring in the expected divestment of Brisbane Technology Park, DXI expects to deliver funds from operations (FFO) of $0.173 per security and distributions of $0.166 per security. Thank you for joining the call. I'll now open the floor to questions.
Right, thank you, Gordon. That's a really interesting insight to the REIT market in Australia, which has perhaps been a little bit silent for us for some years. It always was a popular investment asset class for investors. A couple of questions coming through, and a couple of them are pretty straightforward. I'm not sure you can answer this first one because you're actually talking about industrial, but the question is about office, and I know Dexus does play in that space, but to the extent that you can, if you're comfortable, what do you see the outlook for office?
Longer term, I think the fundamentals for office are really good. It's definitely been impacted for reasons I won't go into, but they should be fairly obvious. Office benefits from a very long lead lag cycle in terms of development, and there's just not a lot of development activity planned. I think as you start seeing positive sentiment coming back into that, you should definitely see the strong fundamentals of office flowing through. I think it's ultimately going to position pretty positively. It's not a sector that I directly cover, but Dexus, as a house, has some of the best office assets in the country, and we remain very optimistic about the outlook for those assets.
Thank you. As you acknowledge, it's not your specialisation. Another quick one for you, if you could, the difference between the ticket codes DXI and DXS. I think I know the answer, but can you give us some insight to that?
Yes, so Dexus, which is the headstock that manages DXI, has the ticket code DXS. That's the broader Dexus platform. There are actually two externally managed REITs that trade within the Dexus platform, which are Dexus Industria REIT with the ticket code DXI, as well as Dexus Convenience Retail REIT with a ticket code DXC.
Great news because you can either invest in the entities themselves, such as the ones you've talked about this morning, Dexus Industria REIT, or you can invest in the manager assets across both of those funds you mentioned. You've also mentioned you're coming back to your core roots of industrial and selling out in Brisbane Technology Park. Is that a move away from technology, or is it just the location and the environment that made you make those decisions?
Brisbane Technology Park was part of the foundational portfolio established in 2013 when the fund got listed. I would categorize the asset more as a suburban office park. Over the last five, six years, there's been a deliberate re-weighting away from office assets. As part of that foundational portfolio, we had Brisbane Technology Park in Queensland, as well as Rhodes Corporate Park in Sydney. The corporate park was sold, I think it was 2022 or thereabouts. The sale of Brisbane Technology Park is really consistent with our longer-term strategy of moving the portfolio to a focused industrial real estate investment trust. It's less about technology and more about exposure to sub-sectors. I think the performance of the industrial sector has really come into its own over the last five years, and we remain very optimistic with the outlook for industrial moving forward.
Okay, sort of related to the technology piece as well, do you have investments in data centers either here or overseas, or are you looking to do so with funds already?
Within our office park at Brisbane Technology Park, there was actually one asset that was a data centre. Beyond that, we don't have any exposure to data centres. I actually think that data centres will become its own sector. While it has some connection with industrial in the sense that often you'll find data centres located in industrial-zoned land, the fundamentals of data centres are very, very different to industrial. I don't think our intent would be to go and look to buy data centre assets. Where we'd look to potentially leverage that is to the extent that we can potentially convert an existing industrial site to a potential data centre. There might be a way to monetize a higher value for that site. That's how you'd probably see us play the data centre thematic moving forward.
Okay, one quick one to finish on. You touched on interest rates, always of interest to property funds and REITs. How do you see those trending in the future, and how will DXI benefit from that?
I probably shouldn't forecast that. I think the experts sometimes have trouble nailing an exact forecast. The outlook is still favorable. We're now three cuts in, potentially another one or two to come based on bank consensus forecasts. We know that there's a six to nine-month lag for some of those benefits to start flowing through. We see it really flowing through in multiple different ways, through probably greater sentiments from a leasing perspective, as we see tenants starting to invest in growth again. At a fund level, lower interest rates should mean lower or higher profits moving forward, given that you're paying lower interest rate costs. There's also a positive relationship between lower rates and asset valuations.
All of those factors should ultimately come together and be more of a tailwind for our fund than the headwind, as we've been facing into probably for the last three or so years.
Fabulous, thank you, Gordon. I just asked the questions that the audience are putting to you. Well done. A couple of those are outside your wheelhouse, and we'd greatly appreciate you having a go at it. Thank you so much for joining us today and to talk us through the Dexus Industria REIT.
Excellent, and thanks. Thanks.