Charter Hall Group

FY26 operating earnings were $488.1 million, or $103.2 per security, up 26.8% year over year. Statutory earnings after tax were $427.9 million, up 30%, and distributions rose 6% to $0.507 per security. Property Investment EBITDA increased 17% to $341.6 million, Development investment EBITDA increased to $61.5 million, and Funds Management EBITDA increased 8% to $293.1 million. Group FUM increased from $84.3 billion to $94.3 billion and Property FUM increased from $66.8 billion to $76 billion. FY27 guidance is approximately $1.14 per security for operating earnings, up 10.5%, and distribution guidance is $0.537 per security, also 6% growth. Management said both FY26 earnings and FY27 guidance exclude performance fee revenue.

David Harrison emphasized that Charter Hall’s model is continuing to compound through acquisitions, valuation growth and development completions, supported by strong equity inflows and a large transaction platform. He highlighted record FY26 equity inflows of $6.7 billion, growing FUM beyond $100 billion in FY27, and a long-term strategy of accessing and deploying capital across listed, institutional, retail and partnership channels. His tone was confident and expansive, with repeated emphasis on dry powder, portfolio curation, and the ability to keep growing without relying on performance fees.

Anastasia Clarke focused on the quality of earnings growth and the balance sheet. She said Property Investment EBITDA rose 17% to $341.6 million, Development investment EBITDA increased $20.9 million to $61.5 million, and Funds Management EBITDA rose 8% to $293.1 million; she also noted operating expenses were up 6%, including 3.1% from one-off FY26 STI outperformance, and that tax expense fell 15% to $81.9 million because of capital allocation efficiency across the staple, permanently lowering the effective tax rate by about 5 percentage points. She said head stock investment capacity increased to $1 billion after new bank facilities and a AUD 250 million 7-year MTN, while gearing finished at 14.2% due to higher deployed capital.

Analysts pressed management on whether FY27 FUM growth, inflows and transactions implied stronger earnings than the published guidance. Harrison replied that guidance is intentionally conservative, excludes performance fees, and leaves room for upside as inflows, acquisitions and development completions flow through during the year. Questions also focused on transaction fee revenue, tax, co-investment levels, redemption queues, office demand and Chifley/Southern Cross Towers; management said transaction fees were depressed by related-party and mandate transfers, the lower tax rate is now structurally locked in, co-investment percentages have trended down over time, there are no current redemption queues, and office demand remains strong for modern, well-located stock.