At the company’s 2012 shareholder meeting, Charter Hall Retail chairman John Harkness provided a review of the year, an update on its current position and outlook for the future.

“As one of largest owners of Australian high quality supermarket anchored shopping centres, Charter Hall Retail REIT has continued to deliver on its strategic objectives during the year, enhancing and building our Australian portfolio and actively managing our capital to deliver a solid result for investors,” he said.

As at 30 June 2012, Charter Hall’s $2 billion portfolio comprises of 91 retail centres, with its Australian portfolio representing 91 per cent of net tangible assets comprised of 74 retail centres located along the eastern seaboard and across a number of key growth regions in Western Australia and Queensland.

The company’s portfolio continues to comprise predominately supermarket anchored sub-regional and neighbourhood shopping centres and during the year we strengthened this portfolio composition with the acquisition of four new shopping centres valued at $160 million in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. All acquired centres are anchored by a strong performing Coles or Woolworths supermarket, with predominately non-discretionary specialty retailers, in line with our investment strategy.

The company also recently completed a $100 million institutional placement to fund the acquisition of three high quality sub-regional shopping centres located in regional New South Wales.

Woolworths and Wesfarmers businesses continue to account for more than 50 per cent of its Australian base rent, with the underlying performance of these anchor tenants remaining core to the continued performance of this portfolio.

“We have also continued to successfully sell down the offshore portfolios, finalising the sale of five United States properties during the year. Our remaining 17 offshore assets have been identified for sale,” Harkness said.

The REIT delivered operating earnings of $86.3 million, which represents a 5.2 per cent increase over the prior financial year.