I would now like to hand the conference over to Ross Du Vernet, Group CEO and Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Well, good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us for our half year 2026 results presentation. I'd like to begin today by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways upon which we operate, and pay our respects to elders, past and present. Today, you'll hear from Keir on financials, Andy on office, Chris on industrial, and Michael on funds management. Concluding the presentation, I'll provide a summary and open up to any questions that you may have. Dexus is a unique investment proposition in the Australasian real asset market. Today, we manage AUD 51 billion of assets across our platform, with third-party funds under management at 2.4x our investment portfolio. We have scale and diversity across the real asset spectrum: AUD 20 billion in office and around AUD 10 billion in each industrial, retail, and growth markets, which includes infrastructure, health care, and alternatives.
This scale is underpinned by our multidisciplinary team with deep expertise across each sector. Importantly, we have access to diverse pools of equity capital, which positions us well to capitalize on opportunities through the cycle. Our strategy is unchanged, and our vision, to be globally recognized as Australasia's leading real asset manager, continues to guide our decisions. The strategy targets large, growing markets, leveraging our multi-sector strengths in transacting, managing, and developing across each. Our high-quality balance sheet portfolio, together with our large diversified funds management business, continues to differentiate us. Today, the investment portfolio is anchored by prime office exposure across Australia's major CBDs. Over time, the investment portfolio will continue to become more diversified by investing alongside capital partners into a diverse range of opportunities.
Our culture, the quality and scale of the portfolio and projects we have underway, coupled with our approach to people, enable us to attract, retain, and develop leading talent to ultimately create value for customers, clients, and you, our investors. Turning to our results. We delivered AFFO of AUD 253 million, and distributions per security of AUD 0.193. This was the second consecutive six-month period of positive property portfolio valuations, which supported the delivery of a statutory net profit and an increase in NTA to AUD 8.95 per security. Our office leasing volumes were almost double that of levels achieved in the prior corresponding half, including further progress at Waterfront in Brisbane, which is now 71% pre-leased and will deliver a premium product in the strong Brisbane office market. Our industrial portfolio, as we expected, delivered strong like-for-like growth and re-leasing spreads.
We undertook AUD 800 million of divestments for the balance sheet, including the recently agreed divestment of 100 Mount Street in North Sydney. If we turn to the funds business, we continue to work through some fund-specific matters while positioning the business for long-term success. Our flagship funds continue to outperform, DWPF outperforming its benchmark across all time periods, while DWSF, the shopping center fund, has outperformed since joining the platform. We raised over AUD 950 million of equity, comprised AUD 640 million of new equity commitments, and the facilitation of more than AUD 280 million in secondary unit transactions. We established a new fund series, we closed DREP 2 above its initial target, and we continued to rationalize subscale funds to simplify the platform.
In August, I outlined our action items for FY 2026, aligned to our three strategic priority areas of transitioning the balance sheet, maximizing the contribution of the funds business, and unlocking our deep sector expertise. In addition to the progress I mentioned on the previous slide, key development milestones were achieved at Waterfront Brisbane. The Dexus office and industrial portfolios delivered positive total returns over the 12-month period, and Dexus has now secured AUD 1.4 billion of divestments since June 30, 2024, progressing well towards our AUD 2 billion target. We invested AUD 170 million of seed capital into DSIT 1, a new fund series, which we aim to reduce to AUD 50 million during the year.
We've reduced the real estate redemption queue by AUD 1 billion, and post the APAC court date scheduled for April this year, we expect to make more progress on solving infrastructure redemptions. Overall, we've made solid progress and remain focused on the priorities that will position the business for long-term success. Our sustainability strategy focuses on three priority areas where we can make the greatest impact across climate action, customer prosperity, and enhancing communities. Sustainability remains core to how we operate, and we continue to receive global recognition for our performance. Thank you, and I now pass you over to Keir.
Thanks, Ross, and good morning, everyone. Turning to the result in detail. In line with expectations, total AFFO was AUD 253 million, with a distribution of AUD 0.193 per security, reflecting a payout ratio of 82%. Office FFO reduced primarily due to divestments and lower average occupancy, partly offset by contracted rent increases. Industrial portfolio income increased due to higher occupancy, development completions, and contracted rent increases, partly offset by divestments. FFO from management operations decreased due to lower FUM as a result of divestments and slightly lower performance fees, with AUD 19 million realized in the first half and AUD 16 million secured for the second half. Finance costs were broadly flat, with a higher cost of debt offset by higher interest income.
As expected, trading profits were higher, with the sale of Brookh ollow, Chester Hill, and continuing construction at Prestons, securing FY 2026 guidance. Maintenance and leasing CapEx is skewed to the first half of the year, mainly due to the impact of incentives on deals secured in prior periods, as well as the timing of maintenance CapEx. Looking ahead to FY 2027, performance fees and trading profits are expected to be materially lower than FY 2026. It has been positive to see the second six-month period of valuation growth across the office and industrial portfolios. Overall, for the six months to December 31, the portfolio increased by 1%. Capitalization rates have stabilized, with the valuation movement predominantly driven by rental growth.
Our office portfolio, which is 77% weighted to core CBD markets, increased by 0.7%, and our industrial portfolio, which is 90% weighted to core industrial estates and distribution centers, increased by 1.6%. Pleasingly, these outcomes demonstrate the quality of the portfolio. Moving to capital management, our balance sheet remains solid, with look-through gearing towards the lower end of the 30%-40% target range, providing capacity to fund committed expenditure. During the half, we issued AUD 500 million of subordinated notes at attractive rates and diversifying our funding sources. We have been active with refinancing, resulting in a weighted average debt maturity of 4.6 years, AUD 2.5 billion of headroom, and manageable near-term debt maturities.
95% of our debt was hedged during the half at an average rate of 2.9%, providing material interest rate protection. Looking forward, there's AUD 1.2 billion of remaining spend on the committed development pipeline over the next four years, with AUD 360 million expected to be incurred in the second half of FY 2026. Thank you, and I'll now hand over to Andy.
Thanks, Keir, and good morning, everyone. I'll now take you through the performance of our office portfolio. We continue to own and manage the best office portfolio in Australia. Over the past five years, we have enhanced the quality and resilience of our portfolio, and as a consequence, we are well-positioned to benefit from the market recovery that is now underway. Location remains a key differentiator, demonstrated by our portfolio occupancy of 92.2%, which remains well above the market average. Our average incentives of 29% are below market, reflecting the quality of our portfolio and notably, leasing deals done in Perth, Brisbane, and North Sydney, where market incentives remain elevated. The effective like-for-like income decline of 2.3% primarily reflects downtime on select vacancies, including 80 Collins Street and 30 Hickson Road, and we expect this to improve into the full year.
Our leasing activity was strong this half, with leasing volumes of over 95,000 square meters, almost double the volumes achieved in the prior corresponding period. The portfolio delivered a one-year total return of 5.7% at December, reflecting the improved market conditions. Looking at our expiry profile, we aim to have no more than 13% of the portfolio expire in any single year. FY 2027 expiries have improved to 12.3% following the recent divestment of 100 Mount Street, with key expiries remaining in Australia Square and 385 Bourke Street. We remain focused on addressing the more challenging vacancies at 80 Collins Street in Melbourne, which represents 2.2% of portfolio income, and 30 Hickson Road in Sydney's Western Corridor at 1.5% of income.
While there is no conclusive answer regarding the potential impact of AI on office markets, we believe different parts of the workforce are likely to be affected unevenly. Our view is that high-value professional work, the kind concentrated in premium CBD buildings, reflecting the majority of our portfolio, will be the most resilient to AI replacement risk and may even benefit and grow. We frequently monitor our customer base, which is well-diversified, with an average tenancy size of 1,000 square meters, and our top 10 customers account for just 20% of our total property portfolio income. The staggered expiry profile, combined with our diversified tenant base, supports resilient income streams across the portfolio. Our development pipeline provides the opportunity to further enhance portfolio quality. Construction is progressing at Atlassian Central in Sydney, with completion on schedule for late 2026.
This development is 100% pre-leased on a 15-year lease, with 4% per annum fixed increases in what is now an improving Sydney market. At Waterfront Brisbane, we have achieved an important development milestone with the Riverwalk opening earlier this month and the vertical structure coming out of the ground. The Brisbane market continues to strengthen with a positive outlook over the medium term. Pleasingly, Waterfront is now 71% pre-leased, with the recent leasing deal reflecting a 40% improvement in net effective rent compared to the previous Waterfront deal struck two years ago. In aggregate, 83% of the committed development book is pre-leased, with contracted 3.7% average fixed increases per annum, providing a secure income stream once complete. We have fixed price contracts in place with tier one contractors, with material collateral and security arrangements to protect against construction risk.
A very high threshold applies to projects in our uncommitted development pipeline, and Central Place Sydney has moved out of our uncommitted pipeline as the scheme is reconsidered. Turning to the office outlook, the evidence continues to suggest that we have passed the bottom of the cycle and are now in the early stages of a recovery. Office demand continues to gain momentum, driven by employment growth, return to work mandates, and centralization trends. Net absorption has been positive across all four major CBDs, with the strongest absorption in premium grade assets, which is exactly where our portfolio is positioned. Sublease space has continued to reduce and is now close to average levels. Importantly, upcoming office supply is low relative to long-term averages. This provides scope for vacancy rates to fall and rents to grow.
Within our own portfolio, we are seeing examples of 15% net effective rent growth on comparable lease deals struck 12 months apart. Looking at our rental growth expectations over the next three years, we expect strong growth across all major markets, with Brisbane, then Sydney Premium leading the way, followed by solid growth in Sydney A Grade, Melbourne Premium and Perth. The Sydney CBD core is now 95% occupied, with Dexus at 98%. With the seven-year delay in new supply, there is meaningful upside to the Sydney Premium forecast. Dexus is well positioned to capture this upswing, given our portfolio quality and location in core precincts of the major CBDs. Thank you. I'll now hand you over to Chris.
Thanks, Andy, and good morning, everyone. Our industrial portfolio has delivered a strong result, including a one-year total return of 8.8%. Occupancy by income increased to 97%, following leasing success across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, which also resulted in like-for-like income strengthening to 8.7%, as expected. Occupancy by area of 97.5% remains above the national average. We achieved strong re-leasing spreads of 33% across the stabilized portfolio. Average incentives increased to 21.5%, primarily driven by lease-up of key expiries in Melbourne's West and Sydney's Outer West. The portfolio is 8.9% under-rented, and 20% is set to access rental reversion upon expiry by FY 2027. On developments, we completed 102,000 square meters during the period, with construction continuing across a further 110,000 square meters.
We leased 63,000 square meters across 10 development deals, and 68% of our committed development book is now pre-leased, with contracted annual increases of around 3%. Moving to our expiry profile, we have leased 24% of the portfolio over the past 18 months, de-risking the expiry profile and capturing strong re-leasing spreads. We remain focused on leasing key vacancies at Matraville, which has now been repositioned along with Gillman, and we are in active discussions with potential tenants on both of these properties. The vacancies we have experienced over the past 18 months have been in older stock in New South Wales and Victoria, and pleasingly, we've achieved strong re-leasing results. Looking forward, 80% of our FY 2027 expiries are represented by younger prime assets and provide the opportunity for positive reversion.
Turning to the outlook, supply under construction has moderated and remains at or below historic average take-up in all markets, while the picture for demand remains supported by strong Australian population growth, enhanced by e-commerce growth. Our portfolio, with its focus on core industrial estates in strategic locations, is well positioned to benefit from these trends. Thank you. I'll now hand over to Michael.
Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Our funds business manages AUD 36 billion in third-party capital across a diverse range of real asset strategies for more than 150 institutional clients with retail and wholesale investors. We've maintained prudent capital structures across our pooled funds, with average gearing remaining conservative at around 32%. We have both returned capital and raised equity in existing and new products. But the near-term revenue impact of providing liquidity is still working its way through. While there is more to do, we are positioning ourselves to capture the strong expected growth in pension capital over the medium term. Last year, we launched a new investment series focused on high-quality assets for long-term value creation, with the first fund in the series securing a 25% interest in Westfield Chermside.
Offshore capital, particularly from Asia, is increasingly interested in Australian real estate, with the office sector also seeing renewed interest. In the 6 months to December, we've reduced the real estate redemption queue by around AUD 1 billion, and we continue to rationalize subscale funds. We expect to make further progress on infrastructure redemptions post the APAC court case, scheduled for April 2026, with mediation to occur in March 2026. We've raised over AUD 950 million in third-party equity, including facilitating more than AUD 280 million in secondary unit transactions. DWPF continues to outperform its benchmark across all time periods, outperforming by circa 200 basis points for the 12 months to December 31. This highlights the quality of the underlying portfolio and our active management approach. The Shops Fund has also outperformed its benchmark since joining the Dexus platform.
While the operating environment remains challenging, with some continued pressure in the near term, we are steadily repositioning the business for long-term scalability and growth. Thank you, and I'll now hand you back to Ross.
Thanks, Michael. Underlying real estate markets continue to improve, supported by positive business confidence, constrained supply pipelines, stabilization in asset prices, and improvement in transaction volumes. Barring unforeseen circumstances, for the twelve months ending June 30, 2026, we reaffirm our expectations for AFFO of 44.5-45.5 cents per security and distributions of 37 cents per security. With valuations turning positive, transaction and fundraising markets recovering, our confidence in the long-term fundamentals of the business have strengthened. We are actively exploring opportunities to enhance returns and capital efficiency by increasing third-party capital participation in the AUD 13 billion property portfolio. This would release capital in addition to the AUD 2 billion divestment target.
With the sustained disconnect between our equity market valuation and that of our underlying assets and businesses, we have activated an on-market securities buyback of up to 10% of Dexus securities. We will execute the buyback at a pace consistent with maintaining balance sheet discipline as we progress asset sales and other initiatives to release capital. Thank you. That ends the formal part of today's presentation. I'll now take any questions that you may have.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star, then two. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. We ask that questions be limited to two per person. The first question today comes from Adam West from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi there. I guess my first question today is just on the Atlassian development. I'm just wondering if you've progressed any plans for a partial sell-down, full sell-down of that asset?
Morning, Adam. Thanks for your question. This is certainly an asset that we have flagged that we'll be looking to introduce third-party capital into. I think we've been pretty consistent with the market, that we think the best time for that is closer to practical completion. That is slated for the end of the year. We think it's a great investment product, 15-year lease, fixed 4% increases. And so, yeah, that's one of the assets that we will be bringing third-party capital in over the course of the year. It might not happen before practical completion, but it will be towards the end of the year.
Thanks for that. I guess just my second question on the office portfolio. But in terms of the core Sydney CBD portfolio in particular, I'm just wondering if you could talk to how much under renting would potentially be in that segment?
Andy, that's probably one for you.
Yep, no problem. Hi, Adam. So look, reletting spreads were positive in all of the CBDs, including in Sydney CBD, and so reletting spreads obviously impact the extent to which the portfolio is over and under rented. We're seeing a pattern of better effective reletting spreads driving or reducing the extent to which the portfolio is over rented on an effective basis. And so the portfolio generally is around 7.5% over rented on an effective basis. That's come in from 12.5% 12 months ago. And it's about 4.5% under rented on a face basis, which is pretty stable with 12 months ago.
Great. Thanks for that.
The next question comes from Cody Shield from UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Ross, Keir, team. Thanks for your time. Just firstly, on the buyback. You know, my understanding was that you, you'd need to do more than AUD 2 billion of divestments to get the buyback away. Is that still the case, or are you sticking with that AUD 2 billion target?
Well, I think we're very resolved around the AUD 2 billion target, and I think what we're flagging is we see real value in the security price where it's trading. We instituted a pretty disciplined capital allocation framework when I stepped into the chair. Dare I say it, that has regard to the return on the investments we already have and also marginal uses of capital. So, we are definitely resolved we're gonna get through that AUD 2 billion target, and as I have a look, shared in my concluding remarks, we are actively looking at bringing third-party capital into the AUD 13 billion investment portfolio. That has the potential to release a significant amount of capital, and certainly, given where we're trading today, the buyback would be a really good use of that.
Okay, that's clear. And then just turning to the leasing at Waterfront, looks like a good outcome. Just wondering whether there's some flex in that 5%-6% yield on cost that you're targeting?
I think I've been pretty clear. I always kinda think we, we're gonna be at the higher end of that range, and there's always scope for us to outperform. We're really pleased. We have great belief in that product. I think that is validated, and the strategy of the team to be kind of patient and wait for the market to come to us on the leasing there. So I think that's a tremendous validation of the product and the leasing strategy from Andy and the team. I would also kind of just flag that even at that yield on cost, we're gonna be materially under rented in that asset, just given how much the market has moved. So, I think there's gonna be a great, ultimate return for our security holders and DWPF, which is our co-investor there.
Yes, I would like to kinda see the team surprise on the upside.
Okay, that's great. Thanks.
The next question comes from Simon Chan, from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. My first question relates to the buyback. Guys, how much of the buyback do you think you'll actually do in the second half of fiscal year 2026? And if you are genuine about kicking off the buyback in the second half of fiscal year 2026, I would have thought there's scope for you to change your earnings guidance for the year, 'cause you're buying back stock at essentially 10% earnings yield, and you know, your cost of debt's 5%.
So maybe I'll take the question in two parts. Are we serious about the buyback? The short answer is yes. I think it's not just a statement of intent, but we see real value in the company where it's trading. We see a disconnect. We have a very high-quality portfolio. Valuations have troughed. We see valuations moving north from here, and, you know, I think the market is fixated on, you know, maybe EPS growth and some noise in the business, be that developments or litigation, those sorts of things. So, we see good value in the current level. We need to make sure that as we're executing that buyback, we're doing it in a disciplined way, that we have regard to the balance sheet strength, which is really important to us.
But I think I am getting more confident around the transaction market. It is improving, and certainly I think bringing third-party capital into the platform and the confidence we have in doing that, there is scope for us to release a lot of capital. And as I said in previous responses, I think the buyback is a really good use of capital at current levels. So I can't predict where the stock price is gonna be in three months' time, and we're not gonna cook that into guidance, but you know, certainly at current trading at current levels, if we can be more active on capital recycling, you know, I think you're gonna see us being very active.
Okay, fair enough. My second question. In slide 17, and I think Andy Collins might have touched on this, that's that last bullet point, high threshold to commence new development projects. I think he referred to that after talking about scrapping Central Place. What's your new threshold now? Like, are you gonna have you guys done the review and have settled on a high yield on costs hurdle before you kick anything off? Can you talk to that, please?
I would say, coming back to our capital allocation framework, this is something that is constantly assessed, and when we kind of look at alternative uses of capital, including things like a buyback, which we've announced today, there is a very high threshold for us to start a new project. So, that's not to say that we're not gonna do it, but where we do it, it needs to be capital efficient, we need positive economics from the management enterprise, and we need to believe that the underlying projects are gonna deliver really good risk-adjusted returns. So, that's how we're thinking about it.
I get that, Ross, but previously, Central Place was guiding to, I think, 5%-6% yield on cost, and you've now scrapped it. So can I assume that 5%-6% no longer cuts the mustard?
I think that's probably fair to say. 5%, 5%-6% yield on cost, kind of depending on your view on where cap rates are, is a pretty skinny development margin. So that's not a good use of shareholder capital, and we won't be committing projects on that basis.
Thanks for clarifying. Cheers.
The next question comes from Andrew Dodds from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. In the remarks, you noted that AUD 1 billion of real estate redemptions were satisfied in the period. I'd just be interested to hear where that, redemption backlog is sitting today. I think it was around AUD 3 billion, back in the August results. Thank you.
Thanks, Andrew. Yeah, redemptions are around about AUD 2 billion. We satisfied about AUD 1.5 billion during the half-year period, and they're now around evenly spread between real estate and the infrastructure exposures. Infrastructure will obviously be dealt with in line with the APAC court case resolution, which isn't too far away. Our expectation is that the current redemptions will likely be dealt with within, you know, 12 months.
All right, that's a good outcome. Thank you. And then just secondly, on trading profits, the expectation this year was for AUD 40 million post-tax.
It looks like you've kind of done that alone in the first half. So I guess just the expectations for the second half, and also just in FY 2027, the slide on page 59 in the presentation sort of shows, you know, pretty minimal opportunities for trading profits. So, I mean, is it pretty safe to assume that there won't be any contribution in 2027?
Look, I might take the comment on 2027, and Kate can talk to 2026. I think what we're providing is some guidance. As we sit here today, the realization of meaningful trading profits, and they have been a meaningful contributor in 2026, the likelihood of that recurring in 2027 at this point in time seems lower probability, and we're flagging that to the market. What I would say on trading profits is I am confident in the value creation that sits in projects that we currently have under our control and development in the trading book. I think it really is just a matter of timing and the decisions that we're gonna make in terms of the realization of those profits.
So I think that's how I'm thinking about 2027, but, Keir, do you want to comment on 2026?
Yeah, sure. Thanks, Ross. So you are correct. The vast majority of trading profits have been realized in the first half. There'll be a very immaterial amount coming through in the second half, so I wouldn't factor too much into your forecast. We're still expecting circa AUD 40 million-AUD 41 million for the full year.
That's clear. Thank you, guys.
The next question comes from Adam Calvedi from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Hey, just on Atlassian, I mean, there's AUD 610 million to spend. It's well above the current run rate that you've been spending CapEx at. I mean, is there any financial implications if this was to be delayed?
Yeah, so, Adam, hi, it's Andy. So under the contract, it's a fixed price contract. We have the protections in the event of a delay. So from that respect, it's typical for a development like that. Are you, i s there more to your question from a financing perspective?
No, just any financial implications for Dexus, I mean, whether it's with the actual tenant, if that was to be delayed, but it sounds like there's not.
Yeah, that's correct.
Okay. And then just on office, I mean, of that, 80-odd or 90,000 that you, that you did over the half, I mean, how many tenants are expanding versus contracting in size?
Yeah, good question, Adam. So just like the breakdown of that leasing volume, about 20% is tenants upgrading. That's the first thing to note. About half of the tenants by area reflect renewals. That's the second thing to note. And in terms of growth, there are some great examples of tenants within the portfolio growing, you know, going from one tenant, you know, one example is in 25 Martin Place, a financial services tenant going from one floor to two. And there are others with smaller tenants coming out of incubators, small suites, moving up the curve into larger suites, and so that's about 25%.
But just to clarify that, so 20% is upgrading, 50% are renewing, and 30% are contracting?
I didn't say contracting, sorry, Adam. So, you need to look at those proportions independently of one another. Yeah.
Okay.
To answer your question directly, about 25% of tenants we dealt with grew.
Okay, great. Okay. Thanks, guys.
The next question comes from Ben Brayshaw, from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Could you just talk about the rationale for the issuance of the subordinated notes during the period, the AUD 500 million? And could you also clarify the margin achieved on that new debt, please?
Sure. Thanks for your question, Ben. So the issue of the sub notes, I'd say that is a very prudent and opportunistic capital management initiative. It provides us with enhanced financial flexibility to pursue investment initiatives, certainly those with pretty attractive risk-adjusted returns, whilst our planned capital recycling is ongoing. In terms of spreads, I mean, you'll have seen DCM spreads have narrowed, and their sub senior spread is now at, you know, historically tight margins. So the 5.25-year notes were issued at 175 over a three-month BBSW, and the 8.25s were swapped back to floating, and they reflected an initial margin of 185 over a three-month BBSW.
Will you receive equity credit from your rating agencies for those notes?
That's right, we will. 50% equity credit.
Terrific. And just in relation to your comments, Ross, on becoming more capital efficient to build a balance sheet portfolio, do you have a target interest in mind in so far as ownership that you would like to maintain across the assets that you're bringing in capital partners for?
Look, i t's gonna be considered on a case-by-case basis. I think the reality is we have a really high quality portfolio. There's lots of options for us. We have existing JVs, which are 50/50, which we can bring third-party capital into, and we have existing assets that we own and control, that we can establish new strategies around. So I think it's gonna kind of depend on what clients want, and ultimately, we're gonna run a bunch of options concurrently and choose those which are best for Dexus security holders. I wouldn't see a scenario where if these are high quality assets, which they are, we want to have a meaningful aligned interest with our clients.
So that's, call it in the range of 10%-20% would be kind of at the bottom end.
Okay, and would Waterfront Brisbane and Atlassian potentially form part of those capital partnering transactions?
I'm not gonna be specific on assets, but I would say, as a general principle, we are open to looking at every asset in the platform, and we'll be, as I say, running options concurrently to assess what is the best outcome for Dexus security holders, having regard to, to be frank, what we sell, but also the redeployment and what's left afterwards.
Yeah. Okay, terrific. Thank you.
The next question comes from Tom, Tom Bodor from Jarden. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Ross and Keir team. I just was interested in the passing yield on the circa AUD 800 million of divestments.
I don't know that we have that one to hand. We might come back to you on that.
Okay, thanks. But, I mean, if I take something like 100 Mount Street, is it fair to assume that it's relatively a high passing yield?
There's a reasonable passing yield. I would say that asset has got a reasonable amount of CapEx coming in the next few years, so we think, divesting at these levels is an attractive, decision at this point in time.
Okay, thanks. And then on the Waterfront project, just would be interested, can you confirm that you've allocated 100% of the podium costs to the first tower, or have you pro-rated it based on the square meters of the towers above, or some other formula?
So when we look at the total project costs that are quoted in the appendix, the cost of the podium is in the stage one cost. In terms of, the yield on cost, we strip that out, and we can go into a little bit more detail later today, if you'd like, around, the methodology. But we take that out in terms of calculating the yield on cost for stage one, but it is included in the yield on cost that we quote for stage two.
Okay, thanks. And then I guess just following on from that, in light of the positive momentum you've had on leasing there in that first tower, how do you think about the potential to get the second tower going, you know, in the next couple of years? Or is it really too early at this point to consider that?
Look, I think that's a quality problem to have, given the opportunities that we have in the portfolio. But I refer to Andy's early comments. There's a high threshold to commence new development projects. We'll be somewhat guided on that project as well by our partner there, which is the Wholesale Fund, DWPF. You know, I think as there is increasing flow and interest from capital, you know, that might be something that we re-assess over the next 12 months, and there's certainly gonna be some synergies in keeping continuity of contractor on site. So, it's not really a decision for today. I just kind of make the point that for Dexus, its marginal capital is gonna be a high threshold, so that that is gonna be a gating issue for us.
Yep. Thank you.
The next question comes from David Pobucky from Macquarie Group. Please go ahead.
Morning, Ross, Keir, team. Thanks for your time. Just to follow up on the buyback and how you're thinking about, you know, balancing the buyback development and growth initiatives. I mean, Dexus reset its target payout ratio, I think almost a couple of years ago now, to retain more capital for growth. So perhaps if you could talk a bit more about some of those growth initiatives you're working on, please.
Look, I would certainly like to be growing the business more, and I think the market is increasingly conducive to it, where we kind of see the cycle, and we see flow of capital from clients. But the reality is, given where we're trading, Dexus security prices are a really compelling proposition. So to be frank, new projects and opportunities have got to compete with that. So long as we're trading at these levels, that's a pretty high bar. I would like to think, and if I kind of take a step back, we have a significant balance sheet, and so the scope for us to undertake considerable capital recycling and releasing a lot of capital by bringing third parties into that investment portfolio, actually, I think gives us scope to do both.
But obviously, we'll be assessing all those opportunities on a case-by-case basis at that point in time. So I kind of, I can't predict where the share price is gonna be. All I can say is, as I sit here today, it looks very attractive from a marginal use of capital.
Thanks, Ross. Just second question on office. You saw a modest improvement in incentives in the period. Would you say FY 2026 is the peak year for incentives? And, the ex- what's the expectation around, you know, when that starts flowing through to earnings?
Well, David, just in terms of market incentives, so you know, we've seen vacancy peak in Sydney and in Brisbane, and in Perth. Vacancy is expected to peak in Melbourne shortly, next 12 months. And so that should flow through to market incentives, and of course, our incentives, we try to manage them lower than that market number.
I think if we're thinking about just the pure dollar spend in terms of incentives, so I would expect this year, you know, CapEx will be sort of at probably a little bit below what it was in 2025, but it is expected to be higher in 2027 off the back of the strong leasing that the team has been doing.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Howard Penny from Citi. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I just wanted to ask about the equity raising. So they raised, you guys raised AUD 640 million in third-party equity commitments and AUD 280 million secondary unit transactions. Could you describe where the equity interest is coming from, domestic, international, and maybe just as far as possible, give us some background as to, you know, where these equity inflows are coming from?
Sure, Howard. We've seen a wide variety of interest from—we've got a diversified platform with different channels of capital, and it's safe to say there's a wide variety of interest that attracts. So we've seen increasing interest from offshore investors, particularly in the pooled funds. And then from a domestic investor perspective, you know, what they're increasingly looking to do is partner with us in some of our initiatives. So the DSIT trust, which was launched, is the first in a series, and we've seen very pleasing demand from investors to essentially come into a club. That's been largely domestic, but I would say we've got a wide variety of interests from a wide variety of areas at the moment.
Great. Thank you very much. My second question, just on cost of debt and where you see that potentially peaking over the next two years, and refinancing risk on that.
Thanks, Howard. I'll take that one. So the cost of debt, you'll have seen, has increased. It went from 4.2 up to 4.7 for this half. I expect for the full year, we'll be sitting at the high 4s, next year, sort of 5-ish. So we are pretty close to market at this point. In terms of refinancing risk, very minimal expiries coming up. We have been very proactive with refinancing. We just did more than AUD 1 billion, on average at about 15 basis points tighter rates and an increase in tenor. So we will continue to take a proactive stance with our refinancings.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from James Druce from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good morning, Ross, and team. I was hoping you could comment just on the, the bucket of performance fees, that you, you might have. I noticed you have the second half secured. I was just trying to get a sense of, of what's left after that.
Is that, sorry, in relation to 2026, or what's the longer term outlook for performance fees, just to clarify?
Yeah. You've, you've got the second half secured, so I'm just wondering how you're looking for the 2027 and 2028. Are there things sitting behind that, that can come through, or is this sort of a, a strong year for, for performance fees at Dexus?
So the significant contributions in, to be frank, 2025 and 2026 was there was a infrastructure performance fee on a mandate that was crystallized on a sale, and there was a significant outperformance in the industrial strategy, the DALT portfolio, which was realized over a couple of periods. So, I would say they were at the kind of larger end of the scale. Like, we are trying to introduce performance fees into new strategies and initiatives. You know, they're not gonna be straight line. They are gonna be a little bit lumpy, and I think what we're kind of flagging is, as we look towards 2027, that level of kind of contribution is unlikely at this point in time.
Yeah, okay, that's helpful. And just interested in your slide 18, just looking at the net effective rent forecast, incorporated any AI impact into those forecasts? And how do you think about the sort of uncertainty or that dispersion that could create over the next three years?
I'll say just generally in relation to dispersion, we've kind of been calling this for a while. We see increased dispersion in performance in assets across, I would say, both real estate and infrastructure, and to be frank, the better assets we think are gonna do better, and there'll be assets that potentially get stranded or left behind. I think the good thing for us is whether it be in the balance sheet portfolio or our funds, we generally have those high quality assets in those premium locations. So I'd say at a group level, we feel well positioned, and these are difficult things to predict, but Andy, I know you've got some views on this.
Yeah, so I think difficult to predict is right. So, in terms of how AI lands, n o one really knows right now, but we, what we're seeing in our portfolio, through engagement with our customers, is that it is resulting in some of our customers growing. And so I'll use an example where a law firm, following implementation of an AI augmentation program, actually leased more space because they could adjust their ratio of lawyers to non-lawyers, and so they needed more space. That's one anecdote. You can't apply that to the whole portfolio or to the market, but I think it's not as simple as drawing a straight line between AI implementation and, like, a blanket adjustment to office demand.
And I would say thematically, we do kind of see the nature of work that is more likely to be impacted by AI is typically gonna be middle or back office functions, and that work is typically gonna be in the suburban markets. And, yeah, that is not a space that we are particularly exposed to, so.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Winky Tan from Morningstar. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, Ross and team. My first question is in regards to that AUD 1 billion redemptions. Just wondering if you are able to quantify how much of these are secondary transactions, and how much of this money actually left the platform? Thank you.
So during the half, about AUD 1.5 billion were satisfied. Most of that was in DWPF. There was also a special redemption in the Shops Fund . And then, as we said, about AUD 280 million of that was through secondary transactions, so obviously stayed on the platform, and the rest were units being redeemed, so those units disappear.
And with the money that has been redeemed, could you also share whether it's sold to any external parties, or is it within, I guess, within Dexus' other platforms?
Essentially, the process is we free up cash to meet redemptions, so we'll sell assets or use debt. By virtue of the fact that there's assets being sold, that would be off the platform, and to the extent it's debt, well, it's just an increase in debt in the fund.
Yeah, that's clear. And my second question is to Andy. Would you be able to share what the office leasing spreads were in the past six months, or the deals that you have achieved? Thank you.
Yeah, no problem. So, hi, Winky. So, face spreads were positive across all markets. For our portfolio, the face spread was up 9%. The effective spread trajectory has come in from 16% or negative 16% to -10% to now -5%. So just to clarify, the effective spread on the leasing that we've done in the first half is -5%, which is a material improvement. So, in terms of the submarkets, in Brisbane, we achieved positive 10% effective spreads.
Yep, that's clear. Thanks, Andy.
Thank you. The next question is a follow-up from Adam Calvedi from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Oh, hi, Ross. I just wanted to follow up on your comments made to Simon earlier on the 5%-6% yield on cost guidance, essentially not cutting the mustard, I think was the term. I mean, I'm looking at the uncommitted developments. We're still quoting 5%-6% for Waterfront, 60 Collins, and Pitt and Bridge. Does that need to get revised going forward?
Well, we're not, we're not committing those projects yet, so I kind of think that's a question for when we're when we're committing those, so.
Yeah, is that, is that not a target range? Or, I mean, why, why is that in there?
I think we'll assess those when we're kind of close to the start line. Things like Pitt and Bridge Street are still years away, and the reality is, they are income-producing assets, so it's not a decision for today. I think what we're you know, the yield on cost is, and we think about development margins, we have to have regard to where we think stabilized cap rates are. Again, that's an assessment that we kind of think we need to make at the time of starting those projects. So, rest assured, if we're deploying capital into development projects, we're gonna need to be compensated for the risk, and it's got to meet our internal hurdles.
Yeah, okay. Okay, that's clear. Thanks.
Thank you. At this time, we're showing no further questions. I'll hand the conference back to Ross for any closing remarks.
Well, thanks, everyone. Enjoy your day, and we'll catch up with you over the next few weeks.