AMB Reports Steep Drop in Earnings per Share, Rising FFO

SAN FRANCISCO-Locally based AMB Property Corp. said Monday its fourth quarter profit dropped 51.7% from the same quarter a year ago, in part due to the implementation of its plan to shed all retail assets and focus on the industrial market.

The real estate company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS), before gain, extraordinary and one-time items of $1.33, reflecting an increase of 8.1% for the year. Adjusted EPS for the fourth quarter was $0.34, an increase of 6.3% over the fourth quarter of 1999. Fully diluted EPS for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2000 was $0.28 and $1.35, respectively, reflecting a decrease of 51.7% and 30.4% over the same periods in 1999. Funds from Operations rose to a record $2.32 per fully diluted share for the full-year 2000, a 10.5% increase over 1999. Fourth quarter FFO per fully diluted share increased 11.1% over the fourth quarter of 1999 to $0.60. Since going public in the fourth quarter of 1997, AMB has grown FFO per share by an average of 11.9% per year.

The news came after the close of markets on Monday. In morning trading today (Tuesday, Jan. 23), shares of AMB are off 18.75 cents to $21.18 on volume of 4,300 shares. In late December, the company’s shares hit a 52-week high of $26.06. It’s 52-week low came in early March 2000, when shares traded for as low as $19.93.