Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust (BWP)

Shares / Stock Code

BWP

Stock Exchange / Sharemarket

ax

Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust (BWP) specialises in property investment. The Trust focuses on warehouse retailing properties and especially, Bunnings Warehouse properties leased to Bunnings Group Limited, which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Wesfarmers Limited. BWP listed on the Australian Stock exchange on 16th September, 1998. During the fiscal 2007, the company held 57 properties in its portfolio. In December 2006, BWP carried out the acquisition of Bunnings Warehouse property, located at North Belmont, about 16 kilometers south of the Newcastle central business district, in New South Wales. The Trust purchased three office/warehouse industrial properties from J Blackwood and Son Limited in January 2007, on a sale and leaseback term. The Trust took over Bunnings Warehouse development site located in Hawthorn, Victoria in April 2007. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, the Trust accomplished two main property upgrades, Croydon, Victoria, and Mandurah, Western Australia.

BWP is the only LPT that is exclusively focused on investing in the warehouse retailing. The Trust has well secured its income from the broader market by leasing all of its properties to Bunnings. The Trust leases properties for over a period of nine years, thus securing its income against a downside in property cycles.

Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust History

Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust was incorporated in 1998, with a focus on warehouse retailing properties, particularly Bunnings Warehouses tenanted by a 100% owned subsidiary of Wesfarmers Limited, the Bunnings Group Limited. It listed on the ASX on 16th of September 1998. At the time of listing, the Trust held 20 properties, comprising 14 completed Bunnings Warehouses and six development sites in its portfolio of worth about $170 million, situated across Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. Since then the Trust’s has added a total of 56 properties of about $850 million to its portfolio as at January 2007. At present the Trust manages a portfolio of 149 Bunnings Warehouse stores and 70 smaller format Bunnings stores.

Since its listing, the Trust has made five capital raisings. BWP was first time included to the S&P/ASX 200 and S&P/ASX200 Property Indices in October 2001, with the market capitalisation of the Trust of around $233 million which reached up to $651 million at 31 December 2006. In February 2000, the Trust implemented a Distribution Reinvestment Plan (DRP). The DRP assists in reinvestment of distributions that would otherwise be obtained as cash. Units that are issued under the DRP are not applicable to brokerage or other costs. The directors resolved to end the DRP in February 2005, until other notice, given the comparatively low gearing level of the Trust. The DRP was instated again in May 2008.