Dexus Industria REIT (DXI.XA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Dexus Industria REIT 2025 Annual General Meeting. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Jennifer Horrigan, Chair and Independent Director. Please go ahead.

Good morning all, and welcome to the 2025 AGM of Dexus Industria REIT. For those whom I have not met, my name is Jennifer Horrigan, and I am Chair and Independent Director of Dexus Asset Management Limited, the responsible entity of Industria Trusts 1 to 4, and of Industria Company No.1 Limited, which together comprise Dexus Industria REIT. We appreciate that not all security holders can attend in person, and we are pleased to be able to provide the opportunity for everyone to participate in the meeting through our hybrid meeting format. Before we start the meeting, as a courtesy to everyone present, may I ask our audience in the room to ensure your mobile phones are off or on silent. In the unlikely event of an emergency, the closest emergency exit is located down the corridor outside this room next to the main lifts. The restrooms are located in the corridor around the corner to the left as you exit this room. I actually think it's around the corner to the right after you exit this room. I'll table my appointment as Chair of today's meeting and open the meeting. For security holders who are unable to attend the meeting in person, we welcome you to the meeting via MUFG Corporate Markets online meeting platform, which enables you to view the meeting live, vote while the meeting is underway, and submit questions or comments. If you have any questions or comments to put to the meeting today, we suggest that you submit them as early as you can, specifying whether they relate to general business or a specific resolution, and these will be addressed at the appropriate time during the meeting. For our security holders joining us in the room today, we ask that you raise your admission card during question time to indicate you have a question or comment. And a reminder for our security holders, they would have a blue or a yellow admission card. We will take questions from the floor followed by the online platform and the web phone facility. For security holders online, if you are yet to access your voting card to vote on the resolutions for the meeting, you should click the Get a Voting Card button at the top of your screen to register first, which will then enable you to submit your vote at any time during the meeting. If you are a security holder, you will need your security holder number and post code to register to vote. If you are a proxy holder, please enter the proxy number issued to you by MUFG in the proxy detail section and then click the submit details and Vote button. Online voting will close 5 minutes after the close of the meeting, and the results will be released to the ASX later today. On behalf of the Board, I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we are presenting from today, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. I would also like to welcome any First Nations people joining our meeting today. I'm very pleased to introduce my fellow directors and our Fund Manager. Firstly, Emily Smith, Independent Director, who also chairs the Audit and Risk Committee; Danielle Carter, Independent Director; Jonathan Sweeney, Independent Director; Melanie Bourke, an Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Dexus. And I would like to introduce Jason Weate, DXI's new Fund Manager, appointed on 1 November 2025. Jason joined Dexus in 2022 as Fund Manager for Dexus Convenience Retail REIT, and has been integral to the success of DXC since joining. He has 20 years' experience in commercial real estate, funds management and equities markets across multiple asset classes. Jason is supported by Gordon Korkie, who will continue as the DXI Deputy Fund Manager, ensuring a seamless transition. I would also like to thank Gordon for the contribution that he has made and continues to make to the success of DXI. Finally, I would like to welcome our Company Secretary, Scott Mahony, along with representatives from our lawyers, King & Wood Mallesons, and our auditors at KPMG. Turning to the agenda. Today's AGM will begin with the Chair's address, which will provide an overview of the Fund's investment proposition and positioning in the current operating environment. I'll then hand over to Jason, who will provide more details on DXI's recent achievements and key strategic priorities going forward. We will then provide our investors with the opportunity to ask any questions. Following Jason's address, we will then turn to the formal aspects of the meeting and the series of resolutions which were outlined in the Notice of Meeting and explanatory memorandum sent to our security holders in October. Accordingly, I formally call for a poll on all resolutions to be put to the meeting and declare the polls open, so you can now start to lodge your votes. Moving to DXI and the investment proposition. The purpose of DXI is to generate strong risk-adjusted returns for our investors and for investors seeking listed industrial real estate exposure. During the year, as you would know, we made decisive portfolio changes to transition the fund to a focused industrial REIT through the divestment of the remaining business park assets at Brisbane Technology Park in Queensland, and refocusing the portfolio into well-located industrial assets. Jason will provide more details in his address shortly. We remain disciplined and focused on continuing to execute our strategy by delivering organic income growth from high-quality assets. DXI's portfolio is now 100% weighted to industrial assets, up from 56% 5 years ago. Our portfolio can reach 80% of the population within 60 minutes, making our properties highly attractive to a diverse range of tenants and supporting strong occupancy and resilient income streams and growth. We execute our strategy by actively managing the portfolio to improve portfolio quality and maximize value, including through the delivery of modern, highly functional warehouses via developments. DXI has delivered more than 130,000 square meters of developments in the past 3 years, which have been sought after by tenants such as Amazon, Hello Fresh, Marley Spoon, Ceva Logistics and Australia Post. And we execute our strategy by acting as a reliable custodian of security holders' capital by maintaining a prudent capital structure, providing us with the resilience and flexibility needed to invest opportunistically through the economic cycle. These activities are supported by Dexus, an aligned manager with 17.5% principal ownership and with deep real asset capability with approximately $11 billion of industrial real estate assets. Dexus' capability and depth of expertise provides us with an ability to leverage insights and extract maximum value from our assets, and positions DXI to continue to perform strongly throughout the investment cycle. We remain committed to delivering meaningful sustainability outcomes. These commitments have a clear business purpose and ultimately create long-term value for our investors and for all our stakeholders. Improving the appeal of our property assets to tenants and investors through sustainability initiatives leads to lower outgoings, higher net rents and less downtime. Such initiatives allow DXI to attract tenants to our property assets and importantly, retain tenants across our property assets, evidenced by DXI achieving more than 99% occupancy by income on a pro forma basis following recent transactions. Some highlights of our progress on sustainability during FY '25 include: Integrating sustainability initiatives across our portfolio, including rooftop solar, battery storage, water and waste management; and maintaining our carbon-neutral position for Scope 1, 2 and some Scope 3 emissions, supported by renewable energy sourcing and target offset programs. We also achieved strong NABERS ratings, which not only reduce environmental impact, but also enhance asset appeal and long-term value, benefiting all our investors and security and stakeholders. Finally, I would like to thank our securities holders in particular for their ongoing support of DXI. We value your support. In the past year, we have completed the transition of DXI to a pure industrial REIT. We have maintained a prudent capital structure and gearing, ensuring we are well placed to fund our pipeline. We will continue to maintain a disciplined approach to capital allocation and continue actively managing the portfolio for the benefit of our security holders. I would also like to thank the management team for their hard work and results achieved in FY '25. I will now hand over to Jason to provide his address.

Thank you, Jennifer, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to lead DXI as we enter our next phase as a fully focused industrial REIT. Our strong FY '25 result reflects greater strategic clarity, enhanced cash flow resilience, and significant capacity to fund high-quality developments. Building on this momentum, we are committed to delivering long-term security holder value by capitalizing on robust logistics sector fundamentals, namely low vacancy rates, constrained supply and continued growth in e-commerce and population. In FY '25, we exceeded our upgraded guidance, delivering FFO per security of $0.182, up 4.6% on the prior year, and above our initial guidance of $0.178. Distributions totaled $0.164 per security, representing a payout ratio of 90%. Portfolio like-for-like income grew 5.9%, underpinned by embedded rental growth and high occupancy. Leasing volumes doubled compared to the prior year with nearly 200,000 square meters of leasing secured, including 83,000 square meters of development leasing. Continuing this positive momentum, we delivered 44,000 square meters of high-quality developments across Jandakot and Moorebank, with further projects progressing as planned. Our balance sheet remains strong with look-through gearing of 29% as at 30 June, remaining below our target range and providing us with flexibility to be opportunistic. And pleasingly, valuation uplifts contributed 3.1% increase in NTA, reversing prior year declines and reflecting the strength of our leasing and development outcomes. The commercial real estate sector is now emerging after a challenging few years, during which we were deliberate in disposing assets early in the devaluation cycle to unlock the attractive investment opportunities within our development pipeline. As Jen mentioned earlier, we divested BTP in Queensland and have acquired a well-located urban logistics asset in Glendenning, New South Wales, enhancing our exposure to the Sydney industrial infill market and also offering attractive value-add potential. More recently, we acquired 2 freehold assets in Dandenong South in Victoria, enhancing portfolio income resilience and offering strong rental growth potential. The assets are located in Southeast Melbourne industrial precinct, which is positioned to benefit from the nation's lowest industrial vacancy rate with robust tenant demand and constrained supply. These transactions mark a milestone in DXI's evolution into a focused industrial REIT. Post the transactions, DXI is a 100% industrial REIT with improved portfolio metrics, including a WALE of 5.8 years and occupancy of 99.5%. This transition strengthens our cash flow resilience and positions us to capture long-term structural demand in high-growth logistics markets. Furthermore, look-through gearing is expected to reduce by approximately 2 percentage points to 27% or thereabouts, preserving the capacity to fund our pipeline and undertake additional acquisition opportunities that drive value to our security holders. Our development pipeline is a core pillar of the fund that will underpin future growth. The Jandakot pipeline in Perth is valued at $230 million across more than 260,000 square meters. We have ample balance sheet capacity to fund our pipeline with look-through gearing set to remain below our target range of 30% to 40% post funding our committed projects. Our recent development completions include 644 Karel Ave, Jandakot, which is fully leased at a 6.5% yield on cost. And Moorebank, where 4 of the 6 units are now leased. We currently have 5 projects in active development at Jandakot with 72% of income already pre-leased at strong rental levels, and we are targeting average yields on cost of approximately 6.7%. Our disciplined approach to the uncommitted pipeline will focus on leasing momentum and delivering strong returns for investors. In summary, we are well placed to continue delivering long-term value for investors, supported by a resilient earnings profile and strong flexible balance sheet. DXI's momentum in activating high-quality developments continues to enhance portfolio quality and drive long-term growth. We are pleased to reaffirm FY '26 guidance for FFO per security of $0.173 and distributions of $0.166, which currently reflects a distribution yield of 6.0% for our investors. Thank you all for your ongoing support, and I will now hand back to Jennifer.

Thanks, Jason. We now have time for questions before going on to the formal business of the meeting. I've been advised that we did not receive any question forms prior to the meeting. At this point in time, I was going to ask if there are any questions from our security holders. Please, when you're asking your question, please show a yellow or blue admission card. And please introduce yourself and if relevant, your organization. I'll now look for questions. Firstly, I think we'll do from the floor, from the audience and before looking for the virtual platform. Are there any questions that anyone would like to ask general questions? Okay. We'll now go to the virtual platform.

There are no questions online.

I'll just pause, give every opportunity. If there are no further questions or comments, I think we will continue now to the formal business of the meeting. Today's meeting has been convened in accordance with the constitutions of the companies and each of the Trusts that comprise Dexus Industria REIT and the Corporations Act. And I have been informed by the registry, MUFG, that a quorum is present to enable the formal resolutions, the subject of this meeting, to be considered and passed. In accordance with the Notice of Meeting and voting form, for instances where I, as Chair, have been appointed as a proxy, but not directed how to vote, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of Resolutions 1 to 3. If you have not already done so, please click the Cast Vote or Cast Partial Vote button on your screen to register your vote. As you're aware from the Notice of Meeting, there are 3 resolutions and each must be considered separately. Moving firstly to Resolution 1, which is regarding the adoption of the company's remuneration report. As our security holders are aware from the annual report and the Notice of Meeting, it is a nil remuneration report. By background, Resolution 1 is an ordinary resolution and concerns the adoption of the remuneration report of Industria Company No. 1 Limited for the year ended 30 June 2025. Under the Corporations Act, a listed company is required at its AGM to put to its shareholders a resolution to approve its remuneration report. Despite the fact that no remuneration is paid by DXI, we have complied with these requirements. The remuneration report was included in Industria Company No. 1 Limited's 2025 financial statements with copies of these available at this meeting and on our website. The remuneration report, as I referred to earlier, is referred to as a nil remuneration report because DXI is externally managed and Dexus as the manager of DXI pays the remuneration for employees and directors of DXI. The nil remuneration paid by DXI is confirmed in the remuneration report. The proxies received are detailed on the screen and represent circa 37% of issued capital. So we display the votes for the resolution. Are there any questions in relation to Resolution 1? I'll now see if there's any questions from the virtual platform.

There are no questions online.

Okay. Thank you. I will now turn to Resolution 2. Resolution 2 concerns the reelection of Independent Director, Danielle Carter. It is an ordinary resolution of the company. The proxies received are detailed on the slide and again represent circa 37% of the issued capital. Before we turn to any questions relating to this resolution, I'll ask Danielle to present to the meeting.

Thanks, Jen. Good morning, everyone. Serving as an Independent Nonexecutive Director over the past 3 years has been a privilege, and I'm seeking reelection to continue contributing to DXI's goal of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns for investors. I bring nonexecutive experience in the property sector and funds management. I currently serve as a Nonexecutive Director on the ASX-listed Bunnings Warehouse Property Group and a member of its Audit and Risk and Remuneration and Nomination Committees. I previously served as a Nonexecutive Director on the APN Property Group. I'm committed to applying this experience and working hard for investors to deliver strong governance and enhanced outcomes. My nonexecutive experience is grounded in a 25-year career in real estate and funds management, where I acted as a fiduciary working in the interest of institutional, wholesale and retail investors. I'm passionate about real estate and the important role that plays in your portfolio. I have deep expertise in direct and listed real estate funds management and also in strategic portfolio construction, including asset acquisition, financing, development, asset management and divestment. As a chartered accountant, I also understand the importance of accurate reporting and robust risk management frameworks. If reelected, I give you my commitment that I will continue to bring integrity, insight and diligence to my work on the Board, representing the best interest of all security holders with a view to delivering enhanced sustainable incomes. Thank you.

Thank you, Danielle. Are there any questions in relation to Resolution 2?