Earnings Call Transcripts
Unknown Executive: Welcome to Stockland's FY '26 Results Briefing. There will be a formal presentation, followed by a Q&A session. I will now hand over to Tarun Gupta, Managing Director and CEO, for opening remarks.
Tarun Gupta: Good morning, and thank you for joining Stockland's Full-Year 2026 Financial Results Update. Joining me today is Josh McHutchison, our CFO. And joining us for Q&A will be Kylie O'Connor, CEO, Investment Management; and Andrew Whitson, CEO of Development. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Over the last 5 years, our focus has been on reshaping our portfolio, embedding additional growth pathways and positioning the business for sustainable performance. This time last year, we said that FY '26 would mark an inflection point in both activity levels and strategic delivery. In this result, you will see that we have not only achieved this objective, but have done so in a rapidly changing macroeconomic environment. Looking forward, we are confident that the strength of our multi-sector platform can provide further growth as the residential market moves through a more moderate phase of the cycle. FY '26 was a year of strong delivery with a step change in development volumes, continued growth in our capital partnering platform and active recycling of capital into targeted growth areas. Funds from operations was up 10.4% to $892 million, with FFO per security of $0.369, at the top end of our guidance range. We delivered this earnings growth, while also further strengthening the balance sheet, with gearing reducing to 22.7% and NTA growing 4% to $4.39 per security. We maintained our focus on maximizing risk-adjusted returns, delivering return on invested capital outcomes consistently within our targeted ranges. And importantly, we have positioned Stockland for growth in FY '27. I'm pleased to report today that the disciplined implementation of our strategy has translated to strong operational and financial performance across all parts of the business. In our residential platforms, we delivered record settlements and a 53% increase in sales, and we are well positioned with strong contracts on hand for FY '27. We have delivered a significant increase in volumes across our commercial development pipeline, completing projects with an end value of $830 million and commencing projects worth a further $1.2 billion, creating high-quality investment product for our partners and for us. With the majority of our capital now allocated to our preferred sectors of living, retail and logistics, we are making good progress in capturing change of use upside within our workplace portfolio and maximizing the value of existing logistics assets through conversion to data centers. We have approximately 450 megawatts of power secured across 3 data center sites, along with a pipeline of 4 additional identified opportunities, all on land that we already control. Growing our capital partnering platform is an integral part of our strategy, and we were pleased to welcome 3 new capital partners during the year, Morgan Stanley Real Estate, Mercer and EdgeConneX. In addition to these new partners, we have expanded partnerships with several existing investors. By expanding our third-party capital base and restocking our development pipelines in a capital-efficient manner, we have significantly scaled our platform, strengthened our market position and portfolio quality and enhanced our ROIC. Over the last 3 years, we have increased group assets under management by $5 billion, with the addition of less than $1 billion to our net funds employed. And as a result, we have grown our high-quality recurring management income by an average of 25% per annum over that period. Creating something better for the people and communities we serve requires sustainability to remain embedded across everything we do, recognizing that the homes, communities and assets we create today will shape how people live, work and connect for generations. We have delivered close to 10,000 affordably priced new homes and residential lots across the country, with almost 1/3 of these being delivered for first-time homebuyers. We achieved net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions, marking a major milestone in our journey toward a low-carbon future and continue to advance initiatives designed to reduce our most material Scope 3 emissions. In FY '24, Stockland has generated just over $800 million of social value and our employee engagement remained high at 84%, and almost 80% of our people own Stockland securities, aligning with the interest of our securityholders. I'll now hand over to Josh, who will talk through the financials.
Joshua Mchutchison: Thanks, Tarun, and good morning, everyone. As Tarun mentioned, the consistent execution of our strategy has delivered strong operational and financial outcomes over the year. This result is characterized by a significant earnings uplift, a strong balance sheet and capital settings that support future growth. Turning to the financial result in detail. Funds from operations was up 10.4% to $892 million, with FFO per security up 9.1%, at the top end of our guidance range. The Investment Management segment delivered FFO of $606 million, reflecting strong comparable performance and contributions from development completions. Pleasingly, we achieved this growth while also absorbing NOI dilution from the transfer of assets into partnerships during FY '25 and FY '26, together with investment in capability and platform expansion. Development FFO was up 17.3%, driven by a step change in settlement volumes across our residential portfolios, growing development fees from increased activity in partnerships and a larger contribution from commercial development. We have continued to invest in growth while maintaining cost discipline. Across the group, total overheads have grown by 6.4% per annum over the last 3 years, while we have grown our revenue base by over 13% per annum over the same period. Net interest expense was down, reflecting higher capitalization into projects, in line with increased activation of the pipeline. Statutory profit was up 20.2% to $994 million. This includes just over $200 million of net fair value gains for the period. Given the scale and duration of major project opportunities that we have secured, revaluations relating to properties under development are expected to comprise an increasing proportion of the group's valuation movements in future periods. From FY '27, cumulative revaluation gains relating to these properties will be recognized in FFO when development value is monetized through a capital partnering or divestment transaction and becomes cash backed. This adjustment is not expected to have a material impact on FFO in FY '27. Looking now at the results for the Investment Management segment in more detail. We've delivered comparable growth of 3.5% from our portfolio, primarily driven by another strong performance from the logistics portfolio and continued growth from retail. The logistics portfolio benefited from project completions and strong underlying growth, partly offset by lower NOI from the prior year transfer of $400 million of assets into new partnerships and $289 million of strategic asset disposals. Growth in our retail portfolio was supported by strong re-leasing spreads and the completion of 3 new developments. We continue to actively manage the workplace portfolio, recycling capital from non-core exposures and positioning assets for future change-of-use development opportunities. Communities rental income comprises our established land lease portfolio, which contributed $17 million during the year and our smaller portfolio of communities real estate assets, which contributed approximately $8 million. Investment management net overheads increased 12% as a result of investment in capability across the business and the growth of operational land lease platform. Turning now to the Development segment. Settlements were up 30% in our MPC business. By volume, the proportion of lots settled in joint ventures or project development agreements increased to 55%, primarily due to a greater number of lots settled in our partnership with Supalai. The MPC development operating profit margin was 21.2%, in line with previous guidance and reflecting further price growth in the Queensland and WA markets during the year, offset by a mix shift to lower-margin projects. The land lease development business delivered FFO of $100 million, a 67% increase on the prior year. The business recorded 777 home settlements and transferred 3 communities into partnerships. The LLC development operating profit margin reflected a mix of settlements from lower-margin projects and increasing marketing costs associated with newly launched communities. The commercial development business generated FFO of $35 million, underpinned by build-to-sell logistics profits and the transfer of 3 recently completed retail assets into the partnership with Morgan Stanley. Net overheads increased 13.1%, reflecting growth in the development platform as well as increased activation of our pipeline. Operating cash flow was broadly in line with FFO at $876 million. We finished the year with gearing at 22.7%, down significantly from 28.1% at December, reflecting strong second half cash inflows from MPC and LLC settlements and further capital recycling. Our weighted average cost of debt for the year was in line with FY '25 at 5.3%. We expect this to increase to 5.9% for FY '27. We extended the tenor of our debt book, and we've maintained prudent levels of hedging and substantial liquidity. Our capital management settings are aligned with our strategic growth objectives and our funding sources are clearly defined. In FY '26, we continue to effectively redeploy retained earnings, recycle our own capital and raise additional third-party capital. Over the last 3 years, we have raised or recycled an average of over $2 billion of capital per annum, maintaining a strong balance sheet position and enabling future growth. I'll now hand back to Tarun.
Tarun Gupta: Thanks, Josh. We have a simple and effective business model. This leverages our end-to-end development expertise, together with investment management capabilities across our targeted sectors. The strength of our business model lies in the way our platforms leverage each other for product, capital, capability and opportunities, accelerating growth and enhancing returns. Our investment portfolio provides high-quality recurring rental income, embedded growth from its development pipeline and capital sourced from its growing partnership platform. We manage Australia's leading MPC business, which generates attractive through-cycle returns and offers embedded adjacent use opportunities. Our land lease business has rapidly scaled into Australia's leading platform, with more than 10,000 existing and future homes and a pipeline that is sourced from our MPC platform. And finally, we have a scale opportunity in data centers, partnering with a leading global operator, with opportunities sourced from our logistics pipeline that we expect to contribute to earnings in FY '27 onwards. Moving firstly to the investment portfolio, which represents the high-quality core of our business. The portfolio delivered comparable NOI growth of 3.5%. Strong leasing spreads in our essentials-based retail portfolio [Technical Difficulty] supported comparable growth of 3.1%, led by non-discretionary categories. The logistics portfolio generated comparable FFO growth of 8%, driven by another period of [Technical Difficulty] rented, providing good opportunities to square meters of leasing during the year and is driving solid underlying income growth while also actively managing several assets that are being positioned for further development as either logistics or data center opportunities. Our commercial development pipeline has an estimated end value of approximately $16 billion, including approximately $9 billion in logistics, underpinning future growth and returns. Three recently completed retail assets seeded our new convenience retail partnership with Morgan Stanley. And we have further opportunities in retail across our MPC pipeline. Leveraging our cross-sector master planning capabilities, we have secured power at several of our existing logistics sites for change-of-use opportunities into data centers, which I'll talk more about shortly. Turning to residential for sale. Our Masterplanned Communities business delivered a 49% uplift in sales for the year and achieved just over 8,900 settlements, up 30% on FY '25 and above our target range due to a strong settlement performance in the fourth quarter, particularly in Victoria. Sales momentum was strong in the first half, with second half activity moderating as buyer sentiment responded to cumulative interest rate increases and uncertainty associated with tax changes. Queensland and Western Australia remain the strongest market with demand moderating, but still exceeding available supply. In the New South Wales market, demand is concentrated to more affordable product. In Victoria, demand is stable but running below long-run volume averages. Apart from certain Victorian projects, customer incentives and rebates are running well below historical levels. We have seen cancellations and default rates decline during the year across the MPC business, now running below long-term trends. Our MPC business enters FY '27 with over 3,800 contracts on hand at an average price above FY '26 settlements, providing good visibility in a moderating market environment. The residential market benefits from strong population growth, significant undersupply and favorable tax settings for new dwellings, which should support a return to equilibrium over the medium term. We first entered the land lease sector 5 years ago, with the acquisition of Halcyon Communities. Since that time, we have scaled the business into a material earnings contributor. On a combined business, the business generated $137 million of FFO, up 40% on the back of a significant lift in development volumes, and expanding portfolio of established homesites and strong underlying growth in management income. New project launches and continued demand for our product drove an 88% uplift in net sales volumes for the year and a 48% increase in settlement volumes. We are now actively trading from 17 communities, with 3 additional launches planned for FY '27, and our established portfolio totals almost 4,000 homesites. We also expanded our partnerships with Invesco and M&G Real Estate during the year, and we were pleased to welcome Mercer to our platform. Moving on to our data center strategy. Our partnership with leading global operator, EdgeConneX, provides us with a clear pathway to monetizing the significant value upside embedded in our existing portfolio. By combining our land holdings and development and investment management expertise with EdgeConneX's operational experience, technical capabilities and hyperscaler relationships, we have created a distinctive end-to-end capability and platform for growth. The Stockland EdgeConneX data center partnership is focused on turnkey data center solutions for hyperscaler customers, primarily in Sydney and Melbourne. There may be sites that are not suitable for the partnership. And in those instances, there is a framework for us to undertake powered land sales or pursue other data center opportunities. Moving on to our data center pipeline. In addition to the 450 megawatts of power secured across 3 sites, we have identified 4 pipeline projects within our portfolio, 3 of which have been endorsed by the New South Wales government's Investment Delivery Authority for a fast-track approval process. Given the progress we have made over the last 3 years in securing power and planning, we expect initial earnings contributions from site transfers in FY '27. While progressing our data center opportunities, we are maintaining funding flexibility. The combination of partner capital and off-balance sheet leverage provides a significant funding capacity. And with our existing land at market value comprising a meaningful component of our equity contribution to the partnership, our cash equity requirements are staged and manageable. We expect data center funding, including land that we already own to total approximately 10% of group net funds employed over time, with capital to be recycled from other parts of the business, including our workplace allocation. So in summary, our FY '26 result has demonstrated the resilience, agility and operational excellence of our portfolio through the cycle and the strength of our business model. Furthermore, our disciplined execution of strategy over the last 5 years has set up a focused and diversified business that is positioned for sustainable growth. In FY '27, the growth in other parts of our business is expected to more than offset a lower MPC FFO contribution. For FY '27, FFO per security is expected to be $0.38 to $0.39 on a post-tax basis. The distribution per security is expected to be $0.252, in line with FY '26. We'll now open the lines for questions.
Unknown Executive: Thanks, Tarun. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Callum Bramah from Macquarie.
Callum Bramah: Just a couple in there. I just wondered, are you able to tell us what your current estimate is of the capital you'll need to contribute into the data centers? And maybe trying, I guess, come in a little bit closer on the contribution you're expecting in '27. Is that because you have good visibility into a contract as I understood that, that was kind of one of the conditions precedent required for you to seed one of the data centers into the joint venture?
Tarun Gupta: Yes, Callum, thanks for the question. So yes, funding-wise, as I said in my speech, this will emerge 10% of funds employed. You know what's our funds employed today is about $15 billion. So, 10% of that is what we think our cash equity contribution is to the JV over the coming years, but that's over coming years. As you know, we just formed the partnership in March this year. So it's only been a few months. But we do have visibility and deals underway in site transfers that will be happening in FY '27, and that's included in our guidance. But the exact numbers, et cetera, will emerge, obviously, as the year progresses.
Callum Bramah: And just customers, so hyperscaler customer contracts and visibility on that?
Tarun Gupta: Yes. So just to be clear, the site transfers can happen before customer contracts are signed. It's just the joint venture needs to be confident that there is enough interest and the sites are high quality. As you know, you just have to look at the 7 sites we put on our slide. They are very high-quality sites in strong availability zones. And since we formed the JV, EdgeConneX, our partner has been talking to hyperscaler customers in the more immediate sites that are further along the planning and power pathway. And as you would expect, we are getting some interest, but it's early days. And then signed contracts were not a condition precedent to site transfers, just to be clear.
Callum Bramah: And can I just clarify and maybe I'm reading into it too much, but the terminology around margins. So, I think you used the phrasing around 20% for your margins -- operating margins in MPC, whereas I think historically, it's been low-20s range. Is that a slight change you're expecting lower margins as we go into '27? And maybe in relation to that, is the margin on the contracts on hand in line with what you saw coming into or for this year? Or are they below despite the fact they've got a higher average price?
Andrew Whitson: Yes. Thanks, Callum. A little bit of color around the margin outlook. There's a combination of factors that have impacted our margins moving forward. We've taken across the board, a view of more moderate growth in the near term given the change in market conditions. Over the last year or so, we've had some unrealized growth coming through our Victorian portfolio. And then we've traded out of a number of higher-margin projects, namely Elara, Newport, Willowdale. So, that's meant that our margin outlook is lower than prior year. But remembering a lot of this will be determined or the future outlook for margin will be determined by what we see once this market starts to recover. A couple of years ago, WA was our lowest margin part of our portfolio. And we've seen margins grow there materially as that market recovered. So the margin outlook is influenced on a whole-of-life basis by our view of future growth.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from Tom Bodor from Jarden.
Tom Bodor: Maybe another way to ask sort of the prior question around data center contribution. You've talked about growth in other parts of the business offsetting lower MPC contribution. Is there items outside of data centers that will be contributing that weren't contributing in '26? I'm thinking things like land lease sell-down profits or any other items we should be aware of?
Tarun Gupta: Yes, Tom, I think what we, I think, are demonstrating in strategy and in execution is that we have multiple strong drivers of growth, which I touched on in my speech. And all of those drivers are now starting to contribute materially. So, I'll go through them. Management income, you've seen us grow that line, the gross line by about 25%. That trajectory there or thereabouts should continue. As you know, we formed 3 new partnerships recently, and our platform is growing. So, that high-quality line continues to grow. Our logistics business, yes, we're doing site transfers, but there's also more development completions coming through. So, there's a good growth outlook for our logistics business. And then land lease, again, outside excluding sites transfers because we had some FFO contribution, the underlying business in both net income -- recurring income from rent and further development profits and margin, and we've guided to an improving margin in land lease are also going to be growth drivers coming into FY '27. And our retail business, let's not forget that we -- after consolidating after a few years, now we're growing that business because we've got high conviction in our convenience-based strategy coming out of MPC and we've got Morgan Stanley as our partner looking to grow with us. So, number of growth drivers. And then, of course, data centers, which is the start of earnings contributions from that strategy. As we always said, the initial earnings would be site transfers. That is something we are confident on in FY '27. But that's just the start. There will be more in future years. We've identified 7 sites. And as we start to get into production, there will be development management, project management and other fees. Then we get capital partners. There will be further profit events, then development completions and then investment income. This is a long-term strategy for the group.
Tom Bodor: And is it right to think the majority of profits will be at completion? Or is that not the case?
Tarun Gupta: No. As I said, site transfers, you're already starting those coming through given the value we've added over the last 3 years. The fees will start to accrue as well as production starts to take place in the joint venture. The real next material, I guess, profit event will be when we start introducing capital partners. But that we've got lots of times. We've got balance sheet funding capacity over time. But yes, initial, we've just started the strategy 3 months, 4 months ago by doing the partnership. So it's well underway.
Tom Bodor: And then maybe just one for Andrew on residential. I'd just be interested in how you're seeing residential prices evolving in the corridors in which you have projects at a national level? Like how much have you seen prices fall? And how should we think about going forward, the potential impact of that given your whole-of-life accounting policy?
Andrew Whitson: Yes. Thanks, Tom. So, maybe I can just give you a bit of a view of each of the markets and how we're seeing things progress. Queensland and Western Australia are still the 2 strongest markets in the country. And we're seeing new releases, majority of them selling out on the weekend of release. We've gone from being multiple times oversubscribed to 1 to 2x oversubscribed for those new releases. Real focus on affordable product, and that's a theme across the country that we're seeing most demand for our more affordable product. Queensland and WA, we've still been seeing 0.5% a month of sort of price growth coming through that portfolio at the moment, and that's obviously slowed from 1% to 2% a month that we were seeing 6 to 12 months ago. New South Wales is very much an affordability-driven market. Down in the Illawarra, where we've got more affordable product, we're still seeing good demand. The Northwest at Gables, where it's over $2,000 a square meter, demand has been slower. This market, prices have been moving sideways. There is limited rebating in the New South Wales market at the moment. So, we haven't seen large rebates being deployed. But very much a price-pointed market. And then Victoria, Tarun mentioned that activity has being below long-run averages. So if you look at the latest national land survey data, it's annualizing running at sort of 8,000 to 10,000 vacant land sales per annum. That's below long-run averages that were more around $18,000 per annum. So, activity is still at a low level, but that market has stabilized. It's got a real affordability advantage now. You can get land in the growth corridors sub-$1,000 a square meter. And that's driving purchases, both first home buyers, but also interstate investors into that market. So, seeing prices there holding, but we are deploying rebates. And we've been doing that really for most of the last half as well. We spoke about that at the half year update, but seeing prices holding in that market as well.
Unknown Executive: The next question is from Richard Jones from JPMorgan.
Richard Jones: Tarun, just in terms of -- I was just following on a little bit from the prior questions. Just the commercial development contribution was $35 million in FY '26. Just wondering if you can give us a rough steer of where that might be in '27, inclusive of data centers? Is that going to be a material change from that?
Tarun Gupta: Yes. So, commercial development last year in '26 was mainly logistics, build-to-sell and a little bit of the Morgan Stanley transfer. So, we had some earnings from that. This year, it's going to be probably less than that, what we have noted. Obviously, the year still just started. So, we're not relying on a major contribution. So yes, not in those commercial development lines. But clearly, in data centers, as I've already said, we have good visibility of contracts that we're working on that will contribute to earnings on site transfers.
Richard Jones: Okay. And maybe just a question for Andrew. Just the banks are saying that loan applications have stabilized in August. I know it's sort of early days. Are you seeing -- how are you seeing the volumes of, I guess, late July, early August and how that compares to sort of June, July? Just trying to get a sense as to whether the trajectory has bottomed or is still trending down?
Andrew Whitson: Richard, from a net sales point of view, our Q4 net sales at around just under 1,950, they were roughly spread evenly over those 3 months. But we did obviously see a step down to the 512 in July. But we have seen a stabilization of those numbers at around those levels. We've seen inquiries stabilize. We haven't seen a continued fall in either inquiry or sales over that period. And remember, July, traditionally, for us is a lower month of sales. You've got a few seasonal impacts in there as well, particularly in the Southern states before you head into the spring selling season. So, that's how the market is looking. I wouldn't like to characterize that we've seen a step-up in August.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from Lauren Berry from Morgan Stanley.
Lauren Berry: Question for Josh. You said in your presentation that you're moving to now wanting to recognize uplift on development through FFO. Can you talk a bit more about that change and whether that is being driven by the move into data center development?
Joshua Mchutchison: Yes. Thanks, Lauren. Yes, we're very much -- we're making the change because of the evolution of our business, very consistent with our strategy. We are now seeing a number of large development opportunities that potentially span multiple periods in the future. So, what the new definition of FFO is doing is looking at that cumulative development revaluation gain or loss only when they're realized through a cash-backed capital partnering or a divestment transaction. So as you know, under the previous approach, when development value is created on investment properties, it gets recorded as a fair value gain and excluded from FFO. So, we just think this really gives a more complete and consistent measure of the development performance of the business regardless of whether the assets held as inventory or investment property. But to be clear, there is no double counting. Any cumulative revaluation gains will be removed from the statutory revaluation adjustment through that FFO reconciliation. So, there's no ultimate change in accounting on how we treat these things. It's really just how do we better reflect the development value creation on these projects.
Lauren Berry: Sorry. And are you intending to put Stockland's share of the development gain through FFO? Or is it just simply when you sell down to a capital partner that, that share of it gets booked through FFO?
Joshua Mchutchison: Yes. Very much only when we sell down. So when we sell down -- so it's cash backed as we realize that. So on the portion that we retain would continue to be revalued through fair value gains.
Lauren Berry: Yes. Okay. Great. And then on development, these days I understand that you're planning on booking land sale profits in FY '27. Can you talk a bit more about the timing of when you think that these projects are going to commence actual construction? And also give us a sense of which project is probably the most imminent and whether you would be looking to commence potentially without a contract in place?
Tarun Gupta: Yes, Lauren, it's a bit early to get into that level of detail. We're just starting the financial year. The deals we're working on, as I said, we have good visibility. They include obviously transfers to EdgeConneX, but you will note we also have the framework in place to do powered land sales if they're not suitable for EdgeConneX, so they could take different forms of earnings contribution. But at the moment, the focus really is still getting planning and full power. So, power has been secured, but as you know, it takes 6 to 12 months for final contracts to be signed and some of these sites are working through that process and also DAs, et cetera, are still coming through. So, there's a number of conditions precedent that we'll have to satisfy during the course of FY '27, which we're confident on. And obviously, that's why we've included it, a contribution into our guidance. But as the year progresses, we will share that information with you.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from Cody Shield from UBS.
Cody Shield: Just first question on MPC. Looks like around 30% of MPC revenues went to JV partners in FY '26. Where do you see that landing for '27 and maybe for land lease as well?
Andrew Whitson: It's going to be around a similar number for the year ahead, obviously, dependent on actual volumes coming out of each project, but we would expect the number to be similar. Within land lease, Cody, I might have to come back to you on that number.
Cody Shield: Okay. No worries. Maybe just turning to July trading. Very early days, but are you seeing any noticeable shift in the mix of buyers that you're getting? Are you getting more investor activity post budget?
Andrew Whitson: It's probably a bit early, Cody. Just -- we're obviously monitoring that as well. There is some volatility week-on-week, month-on-month, but probably too early to call that a trend. Ultimately, we think the changes towards new build product from a tax policy setting will support the new part of the market, but it needs to be confidence in stabilization of the broader housing market before you see that really play out in bigger numbers.
Unknown Executive: The next question is from Suraj Nebhani from Citi.
Suraj Nebhani: A couple of quick ones from me. Sorry to ask the data center question again, but it's hard not to. I guess, you outlined 450 megawatts of secured power approved sites across 3 of them. Firstly, can you confirm all 3 are slated for the EdgeConneX partnership and will be built out as fully fitted data centers?
Tarun Gupta: I think what I'd say is the EdgeConneX partnership is to do fully fitted out hyperscaler -- hyperscaler fully fitted out data centers. In terms of the specifics of which site goes when, it's too early to say that. Obviously, we need to go through a proper process with our JV partner. There's a very defined process. We are offering those sites as they come up for conditions precedent and then they'll go through. But yes, I think that's what I'd say, Suraj, but too early to start to be too specific on each site transfer. We'll let you know when those start to happen over the course of the year in what happened, but it's just the start of the year.
Suraj Nebhani: And just other one on the funding requirements. So it's good to have the clarity on, I guess the percentage of NFE. We keep getting asked about, I guess, what could the potential size of the total capital be in the data center requirements, including the partner contributions? Can you touch on potential sort of end value or of maybe the power approved pipeline or some sort of stuff around the potential spend, maybe just per megawatt or something like that?
Tarun Gupta: Yes. I think just the cost per megawatts approximating $20 million per megawatt as a general rule of thumb. I won't give you a specific one we are using. But as a general, you can use that. So if you use that, you can come up with a cost number. Obviously, value, again, you can make your own assumptions based on what's happening in the market. There's significant value creation. We put an indicative slide there using 100 as the base for you to work through. But as I said before, the current secured pipeline and the others we're working on, we've got a long road ahead that we have good funding pathways for just on the balance sheet funding. But remembering, once customer contracts are secured, these assets become very valuable for capital partnering and that's our strategy. We've demonstrated in every sector. We've done that. So, over the next 2 to 5 years, we've got a lot of value to create and also funding that we'll be taking forward. But as we've articulated, we have good pathways on funding.
Unknown Executive: The next question is from Adam Calvetti from Bank of America.
Adam Calvetti: Just a question on what's the end value of the data center sites that they're being assessed on? Are you selling them in as powered land? Are you selling them in as completed data center? How much of the economics are you giving away to EdgeConneX? Just trying to understand and quantify the potential value uplift on this land.
Tarun Gupta: Yes, Adam, the sites are going to go into the partnership at a fair market value based on, obviously, a zone site and a zone cleared site with power secured. So, we are fully capturing the value that we are creating, we, Stockland because we've been working on these sites for over 3 years, and we've owned some of the sites for 10, 20 years. So, our securityholders will be rewarded fairly for that. After that, clearly, EdgeConneX brings a lot of value through the technical capability and the operating capability and clearly the hyperscaler relationships. And after that, everything is shared pari passu.
Adam Calvetti: Okay. Great. That's clear. And I just wanted to clarify. I think you mentioned that the revaluation uplifts in FY '27 will not be material. Is that correct? Or will they have a material contribution to earnings?
Joshua Mchutchison: No, just to be clear. So, I think the change in FFO that I talked about in relation to development -- realized development gains, cash back realized development gains for our investment properties, it will be -- that will be immaterial for FY '27.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from James Druce from CLSA.
James Druce: Maybe just a question on -- one more question on the land profits, if I may. It sounds like that will be rolling or some of that will be rolling into FY '28 as well. Like do you expect to take all of those land profits through '27?
Tarun Gupta: James, there will be -- this is a programmatic strategy for us. There is 7 sites identified. We are talking initially only a couple of sites in terms of what's in our initial guidance. So, there will be more sites in future years. And also the recognition will span more than 1 year, depending on the construction program. Obviously, with the developer, we'll have some development services agreements to prepare the site, service it, things like that, which will impact the profit recognition, but it will be over multiple years. It's not all in '27. This is just the start.
James Druce: Okay. That's clear. Maybe just on the capitalized interest, it picked up from $180 million to around $220 million. I think that sounds a bit high this year. But can you just provide some guidance for the cap interest for next year, please?
Joshua Mchutchison: Yes, James. Obviously, capitalized interest has increased as a result of the increased activation of our pipeline and the slightly higher interest costs. And as we look forward, we think it's going to be a similar level of capitalization next year, slightly higher cost, but yes, similar level of capitalization next year.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from Ben Brayshaw from Barrenjoey.
Benjamin Brayshaw: Just a follow-up question on the release of COGS interest for MPC as a percentage of revenue seems to have ticked up for FY '26. Just wondering if you see that as a new normal run rate for FY '27 and beyond?
Joshua Mchutchison: No. Listen, it was a little higher. It was included in FY '26, the sale of North Shore that had a higher proportion of interest capitalized, which was released through COGS. So, our expectation is moving forward that it should be closer to our previous range that we've guided in the order of 6%.
Benjamin Brayshaw: And then in FY '26, you recognized a capitalized interest headwind for MPC. Do you expect that to normalize? Or just any comments on FY '27 capitalized interest headwind or benefit for MPC, please?
Andrew Whitson: Yes. Are you talking about the -- because what I think it was, what, 6.3% in '26. It was just above 6%. As Josh was referring to, that had North Shore in it, but we've also launched a number of long-dated projects that we've held in our portfolio, Rivermont and Botanica. So, you start to get more capitalized interest coming through there. Importantly, in MPC, we released through COGS more cap interest than we took onto the balance sheet over the last 12 months. So, you're not seeing a buildup. We've given that range of 4% to 6%. Next year is probably going to be towards the top end of that range as well with some of these longer-dated projects coming to market, which is a good thing for activation. And obviously, we continue to focus on that ROIC metric as well to make sure that we're allocating capital in a disciplined way.
Benjamin Brayshaw: And so just a question on the WACD guidance of 5.9%. It's quite a material increase on FY '26 when hedging in place seems to be broadly unchanged over the last 6 months for FY '27. Just wondering if you've done anything to alter the finance costs that is included in FY '27 guidance of 5.9%. Or is it just an increase in the floating rate?
Joshua Mchutchison: It's really very much the increase in the floating rate. As you just suggested, our hedge is expected to be a similar level in '26 as to what it was in '25. But yes, it's really the increase in the underlying rate.
Unknown Executive: The next question comes from Claire McKew from Green Street.
Claire McKew: Just a quick question on capital allocation priorities. Obviously, there's not appetite to really move the needle on gearing. So, you're beholden to rotating capital in partnerships. I'm just curious, given the levers you -- the material levers you have on the development side, where should we expect -- where do you see the highest and best use of that capital on the development front? Is it really reorienting to ramp up data centers and moderating logistics? Obviously, there's retail within the MPCs. If you can just give us some color on where you see that the highest and best use of your capital on that front?
Tarun Gupta: Yes. Claire, yes, I think what I'd say is that at the macro level, our general capital allocations to living, retail and logistics is appropriate as we see the near and medium term. But within that, where we're allocating -- obviously, in some of our development business, we go through cycles. We allocated a lot of capital to MPC in the last couple of years. That has worked for us. But as Andrew said, we're very ROIC disciplined. Our ROIC in the MPC business through the cycle, we've demonstrated somewhere between 15% to 17%. So, that implies if sales slow, we will pull some of the capital back from that business and allocate to other growth areas like data centers and logistics where we're still making good returns, including land lease. But over the next 3 to 5 years, what you should expect is that as we start allocating more to data centers, we will start to moderate our workplace, our office exposure. That is not as strong a conviction sector for us, but we will do that as the funding requirements come through. We've already done it through change-of-use to higher uses to either data centers or build-to-rent or to resi for sale. So, that's a key source of funding and recycling that we'll do. We've been recycling $700 million of assets every year in a systematic way. And then you've got to remember, we're now starting to build a very strong track record in attracting blue-chip capital to our platform. And when we're doing new development, new starts, if we're putting 70% or 50% partner capital and off-balance sheet leverage within our guidelines, that provides a significant firepower to the group to grow our businesses. And we've demonstrated that last year. We raised about $2 billion of capital in that way. So it will be a combination of down-weighting of workplace and capital partnering.
Claire McKew: Okay. That's helpful. And just -- I appreciate there's been a lot of discussion on the data center development, land profit coming through. But just really specifically, so you've mentioned it's cash backed. Obviously, once you contribute it into the partnership, there's no cash flow, rather the cash benefit is being driven by the fact that you've contributed that capital by virtue of the land profit. In turn, that reduces the burden on the remaining development costs. But I'm just curious because you baked that within that cost, correct, right?
Tarun Gupta: No. When we sell down our land positions into partnerships, our capital partner or third-party JV partners settle it with cash, hard cash, and that is what we will be -- yes, there's no non-cash. This is hard cash that comes back, including any WIP or whatever is accrued to the land and any development margin that we're realizing on sell-down, that will all be cash backed in future years. That is the business model of the group. We're a developer across our logistics. We've got major projects coming through, as Josh said, data centers, retail, et cetera. So it's just reflecting the activity of a developer. When we sell our positions, we get cash and we recognize it in FFO.
Claire McKew: Okay. So there's not a lag there in terms of just a lower -- okay, got it. And so just in that vein, if we look at, say, one of your projects like Cherry Lane, which is obviously a smaller one, just running some high-level numbers on that land -- potential land profit contribution based on broader market evidence, like has -- you mentioned that, that contribution will be negligible this year. But when I run numbers on at least one of those assets coming through to the partnership, it has the ability just on that land profit to move the needle by perhaps like 3% to 5% of your FFO. So, I'm just wondering, can you give us a sense of the profitability you're expecting in terms of sales from land prior to the power secured and development secured versus what you're expecting to achieve on that transfer?
Tarun Gupta: Yes. It really depends on our holding values. There are 7 sites that we've identified. So, it will depend on what our carrying value is. But general rule of thumb, if you've got logistics land and that secures power and planning, it can be anywhere from -- depending on what you're doing from -- at book value to 2x book value. So again, it will be site by site. So yes, I think the specifics, we're not going to get into in this call. But as you can see, we are already demonstrating through our guidance and what we will be booking through FY '27, significant value creation coming through, which will be cash backed.
Unknown Executive: The next question is a follow-up question from Suraj Nebhani.
Suraj Nebhani: Just one quick question on the Investment Management constraints. Tarun, I think you highlighted strong growth, 25% per annum growth over the last few years. How should we think about further capital partnerships potential? Are there -- and sort of going back to the previous question as well, is it primarily in the data center space or there's potential for more capital partnerships in other parts of the business as well?
Kylie O'Connor: Suraj, thanks for the question. It's Kylie here. So, you can see capital partnerships is very much part of our strategy, and we welcomed 3 new partners onto the platform this year. We also now have partners across all of our sectors. And so we expect to do a combination of growing those partnerships within the existing sectors and new partnerships as well. And of course, data centers will be a big part of that.
Unknown Executive: That's the last question we have time for today. I'll now hand back to Tarun for closing remarks.
Tarun Gupta: Thank you. Thank you for joining the call, and we'll finish it here, but we're looking forward to seeing you all on the road show over the coming days and weeks. Good morning, and thank you.
Unknown Executive: That concludes today's call. Thank you for joining us. You may now log out.