Kite Realty sees quarterly rise in revenue, profit

Kite Realty Group Trust on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter financial results that met or exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The Indianapolis-based retail real estate investment trust, one of the largest shopping center owners in the United States, reported funds from operations, or FFO, of $117.3 million, or 53 cents per share, in the period.

The per-share results matched the average FFO estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

FFO is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry that  focuses on profit, depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had a profit of $21.8 million, or 10 cents per share, for the quarter—up from $8 million, or 4 cents per share, for the same period in 2023.

The real estate investment trust reported revenue of $214.7 million in the fourth quarter, up from $200.3 million in the same period of 2023.

The latest revenue figure topped Wall Street expectations of $208.9 million.

For the full year, the company reported FFO of $455.8 million, exceeding 2023 FFO of $446.9 million.

Kite reported full-year 2024 revenue of $841.8 million, up from $823 million the previous year.

Full-year profit was reported as $4.1 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with $47.5 million, or 22 cents per share, in 2023.

Kite said 2024 profit was driven down by an impairment charge for one of its properties it’s trying to sell. Without that factored in, profit for the year would have been $70.3 million, or 32 cents per share.

“Looking back at 2024, I could not be prouder of what the KRG team was able to accomplish,” John A. Kite, chairman and CEO, said in written remarks. “We achieved all-time high leasing volumes, improved our long-term embedded growth profile, further fortified our pristine balance sheet, and outperformed our original guidance.”

The company said it leased about 5 million square feet in 2024. It reported annualized base rent of $21.15 per square foot and said 95% of its 177 properties were leased, up from 94.2% at year-end 2023.

Kite Realty Group said it expects full-year FFO in the range of $2.02 to $2.08 per share for 2025. The company’s board of trustees declared a first-quarter dividend of 27 cents per share, an 8% increase from the first quarter of 2024.

It also expects to see a bump to its properties’ net operating income by anywhere from 1.25% to 2.25%.