A downturn in the carrying value of its tourism assets is being blamed by West Perth-based Westralia Property Trust for their $1 million loss in the 2005-06 financial year, up on the $4 million loss reported in the previous period.
The trust lost 1.61 cents per unit, an improvement on the 6.09 cents per unit lost in 2004-05, despite unit holders receiving a distribution of 4.5 cents that year.
Included in the result is a net property adjustment comprising an increase in the value of the City Central property in Murray St Perth of $3.5 million to $67.3 million, which was offset by a $6.2 million (after a minority interest $4.3 million) reduction in the carrying value of tourism assets and investments.
The trust owns City Central (the site of the Woolworths supermarket) and the Kalgoorlie Apartment Hotel Syndicate outright, as well as having stakes in hotels in Como, Dunsborough and Busselton.
Rental income from the City Central site increased by 10.1 per cent while the income from its tourism assets decreased by 13.7 per cent, leaving the company with a total rental income of $8.2 million, up 4.5 per cent from the previous year.
The company's 51.12 per cent stake in a syndicate owning the Dunsborough Broadwater Resort lost some money through a carrying value write down from $13.2 million last financial year to $11.9 million this year. The company's justifcation for this was a 48.7 per cent average occupancy rate for tourism accommodation in the shire of Busselton, and the findings of an independent consultant that rezoning of the property to permanent residential lots was unlikely.
The company wrote down its 14.4 per cent shareholding in the Broadwater Busselton Property Syndicate by $187,000 on August 16 this year.
