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Washington Real Estate Investment Trust – WRE – 203rd consecutive quarterly dividend

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Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: WRE) Announces New Quarterly Dividend Rate

WRIT’s Board of Trustees announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share to be paid on September 28, 2012 to shareholders of record on September 14, 2012. The new quarterly dividend rate represents a 31% decrease from WRIT’s second quarter 2012 dividend of $0.43375 per share. This is WRIT’s 203rd consecutive quarterly dividend.

“We estimate that our new dividend rate will provide additional cash flow of approximately $35 million per year. This action will allow us to retain more capital to invest in property acquisitions, development projects and improvements to our existing assets – or reduce debt – all of which are critical components of our long-term strategy,” said George F. “Skip” McKenzie, President and Chief Executive Officer of WRIT. “We expect aligning our dividend payment to more closely approximate taxable income will create a catalyst for successful execution of our strategic plan. We believe this alignment will position us to enhance future growth to our shareholders while we continue to operate our business from a position of balance sheet strength.”


Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Second Quarter Financial And Operating Results

Core Funds from Operations, defined as Funds from Operations excluding acquisition expense, gains or losses on extinguishment of debt and impairment, was $31.9 million, or $0.48 per diluted share for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, compared to $33.5 million, or $0.51 per diluted share for the prior year period. FFO for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 was $31.6 million, or $0.47 per share, compared to $33.2 million, or $0.50 per share, in the same period one year ago.

Net income attributable to the controlling interests for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 was $6.0 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to $6.5 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, in the same period one year ago.

Operating Results

The Company’s overall portfolio Net Operating Income (“NOI”) was $51.3 million compared to $47.9 million in the same period one year ago and $50.5 million in the first quarter of 2012. Overall portfolio physical occupancy for the second quarter was 89.3%, compared to 87.7% in the same period one year ago and 89.7% in the first quarter of 2012.

Same-store portfolio physical occupancy for the second quarter was 89.3%, compared to 91.1% in the same period one year ago. Sequentially, same-store physical occupancy decreased 30 basis points (bps) compared to the first quarter of 2012. Same-store portfolio NOI for the second quarter decreased 1.7% and rental rate growth was 1.6% compared to the same period one year ago.

WRIT is a self-administered, self-managed, equity real estate investment trust investing in income-producing properties in the greater Washington metro region. WRIT owns a diversified portfolio of 72 properties totaling approximately 9 million square feet of commercial space and 2,540 residential units, and land held for development. These 72 properties consist of 27 office properties, 18 medical office properties, 16 retail centers and 11 multifamily properties. WRIT shares are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.

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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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