Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What is your opinion of Crombie REIT? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Crombie REIT, $12.81, symbol CRR.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 34.9 million; Market cap: $446.9 million), owns 127 commercial properties in eight provinces. In all, these properties consist of about 11.9 million square feet of leasable area. The trust has a 95.5% occupancy rate. Crombie’s properties are mainly in Atlantic Canada, with a large portion in Nova Scotia (43.9%), followed by New Brunswick (15.5%), Newfoundland and Labrador (12.9%) and Prince Edward Island (3.3%). A further 15.1% are in Ontario, 7.9% are in Quebec and 1.4% are in Saskatchewan. Empire Company Ltd. (Toronto symbol EMP.A) owns 47.0% of Crombie REIT. Grocery retailer Sobeys, which is wholly owned by Empire Company, supplies 32.7% of Crombie’s rental income. Crombie’s revenue rose 3.8% in the three months ended June 30, 2010, to $52.8 million from $50.9 million a year earlier. However, cash flow per share was down 22.9%, to $0.27 from $0.35. That was mostly because the company refinanced short-term floating-rate debt with long-term fixed-rate mortgages…