Goodman Group has restructured its capital management with a reduction in gearing and amended US based banking covenants, the group has revealed.
This has led to an improvement in credit rating from both S&P and Moody's Investors Services.
According to the chief executive Greg Goodman, these changes provide the group with greater operational and balance sheet flexibility for the long term.
"As part of the Group's capital management strategy, Goodman has been focussed on reducing our financial leverage in the business to counterbalance our active earnings," Mr Goodman said.
Under the changes, Goodman has reduced its gearing targets in its Financial Risk Management Policy (FRM) from 25-35 per cent to 0-25 per cent. Mr Goodman said the change brings the FRM in line with the group's current operating practice.
Mr Goodman said the level of the group's gearing will be "determined with reference to the mix of earnings and credit ratios consistent with the rating of the group". There are no changes to the forecast 2017 financial year operating earnings of the group, of 7.5 per cent.
Moody's vice president and senior credit officer, Maurice O'Connell, said of the news: "Goodman's revised gearing policy will result in a stronger credit profile through the cycle, which underpins a higher rating."
"The rating reflects Goodman's strong market position and brand name as the largest owner of good-quality industrial properties in Australia and its market-leading position globally. This situation helps underpin the Baa1 rating," Mr O'Connell said.
But the stock has had some mixed reviews with Credit Suisse issuing a downgrade to neutral, based on the fact it is trading 6 per cent below the analysts' target price.
But the analyst added that Goodman is the most obvious "winner" from the growth of online retail globally, and in particular Amazon's flagged entry into the Australian market.
It has been said Goodman is in discussions with Amazon to lease its first fulfillment centre at the Oakdale industrial estate at Eastern Creek Sydney. The site is already home to DHL which is a key delivering group for parcels.
"If we assume that Goodman is awarded two of our three assumed 90,000-square-metre distribution centres, this implies about $300 million of additional Goodman Australian development work, versus Australian Work In Progress of about $630 million, as at December 31, 2016," Credit Suisse analysts said.
"Over the longer term - and as we have highlighted in previous research, we would expect Goodman to benefit from supply chain reconfigurations by existing retailers adapting to meet a new competitive threat."
The analyst at CLSA, Sholto Maconochie, has maintained his buy recommendation, saying he likes Goodman due to the favourable thematics associated with the e-commerce trend and as traditional retailers focus on supply chain efficiencies and online channels/sales.
"This should see work in progress being elevated at or above the current $3.5 billion across 16 countries. We believe Goodman is Amazon's preferred developer for its rollout in Australia which we estimate could be 1.0-3.6 per cent accretive to 2018 earnings per security, with Amazon currently Goodman's second-largest tenant," Mr Maconochie says in a recent note to clients.
