Liberty Property Trust Announces 2013 Financial Projections

MALVERN, Pa., Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Property Trust has announced its expected 2013 financial results, and is affirming previously-announced expectations for 2012. Liberty expects to report funds from operations ("FFO") per share in the range of $2.57 - $2.59 for 2012 and in the range of $2.60 - $2.70 for 2013.

Commenting on this guidance, Liberty's chief executive officer, Bill Hankowsky said: "In developing guidance for 2013, we have assumed that the economic recovery will continue to slowly improve. We expect occupancy to increase for both our office and industrial portfolios. We believe that market rents have bottomed in both office and industrial, but we are still experiencing roll-downs in rents in our office portfolio as we release space previously leased at height-of-the-market rates. At this point, acquisition opportunities are scarce and we expect our external growth to be primarily through development. We should continue to benefit from increased development opportunities as new space is required to satisfy pent-up demand and changes in how companies are doing business."

A reconciliation of projected FFO to projected GAAP net income for both 2012 and 2013 is below (all amounts projected):

About the Company

Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY) is a leader in commercial real estate, serving customers in the United States and United Kingdom, through the development, acquisition, ownership and management of superior office and industrial properties. Liberty's 78 million square foot portfolio consists of 650 properties providing office, distribution and light manufacturing facilities to 1,800 tenants.

Additional information about the company is available in the Investors section of the company's web site at www.libertyproperty.com. 

Liberty will host a conference call during which management will discuss these projections and underlying assumptions on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, at 11:00 A.M., ET. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (888) 870-2815 and entering the passcode 75484651. The conference call will also be available live at www.libertyproperty.com in the "Investor Relations" section of the site. If you are unable to join the conference call, you may access the archived webcast in the Investor Relations section of the web site. In addition, a recording will be available telephonically until January 11, 2013 by dialing (855) 859-2056 and using the passcode 75484651.

The statements contained in this press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law.  Although Liberty believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.  As forward-looking statements, these statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expected results.  These factors include, without limitation, the uncertainties affecting real estate businesses generally (such as entry into new leases, renewals of leases and dependence on tenants' business operations), risks relating to our ability to maintain and increase property occupancy and rental rates, the financial condition of tenants, the uncertainties of real estate development and construction activity, the costs and availability of financing, the effects of local economic and market conditions, regulatory changes, potential liability relative to environmental matters and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

SOURCE Liberty Property Trust