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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 6, 2009

Pacific Office reports $1.1M loss


By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc., a publicly traded office real estate investment trust with most of its portfolio in Honolulu, yesterday reported a net loss of $1.1 million, or 37 cents per diluted share, for the three months ended June 30.

The results represented the first fiscal quarter that can be compared with the same period last year for the Los Angeles-based company formed by Honolulu-based Shidler Group in March 2008.

In the same quarter last year, Pacific Office reported a $1.4 million loss, or 45 cents per diluted share.

In one key measure of performance for real estate investment trusts, Pacific Office's "funds from operations" was $1.8 million, or 10 cents per diluted share in the recent quarter, compared with $200,000, or 1 cent per diluted share a year earlier.

Funds from operations exclude such things as gains or losses from property sales, higher or lower real estate values and tenant allowances. The measure is regarded by the industry as a better reflection of the health of real estate investment trusts than net income.

Pacific Office said leasing in its buildings has increased despite the struggling economy, rising to 86.2 percent from 85 percent a year earlier and 85.4 percent on March 31.

"Our consistent performance is primarily attributable to our presence in a stable market such as Honolulu that continues to perform well despite the weakness in the national economy," Dallas E. Lucas, company president and CEO, said in a statement.

About 60 percent of Pacific Office's portfolio is in Honolulu, which produces about 75 percent of company revenue. Pacific Office cited a report by commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis showing that Honolulu's 10.1 percent office vacancy rate is second lowest in the nation.

Among Pacific Office's seven local holdings are the Davies Pacific Center, Pan Am Building and Waterfront Plaza. The company owns about 23 office buildings primarily in Honolulu, San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix with 4.3 million leasable square feet of space.

Pacific Office, which is managed by a Shidler Group affiliate, also announced yesterday that it has registered to sell and issue up to $400 million of senior common stock.

The company last month also announced that chief executive Lucas will leave the company at the end of August and be replaced on an interim basis by company chairman and founder Jay Shidler if a replacement is not found by September.

Shares of lightly traded Pacific Office most recently were bought and sold on Monday at $3.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.