Regency Centers Corp. reports higher earnings and raises forecast

Regency Centers Corp. reported a slight increase in third-quarter earnings and raised its forecasts for the full year, with the Jacksonville-based shopping center developer saying its properties are performing well.

"This is evident in our strong rent growth, our sizable leasing pipeline, our same-property leased occupancy rate, which we've now pushed above 96%, another record high for shop occupancy and accelerating same-property NOI (net operating income) growth," CEO Lisa Palmer said in an Oct. 29 conference call.

"As a result, we're raising current year guidance and now expect same property NOI growth of 3.5% and core operating earnings per share growth of nearly 5%," she said.

Regency had been projecting NOI growth of 2.25% to 2.75%.

The company reported core operating earnings of $1.03 a share in the third quarter, 6 cents higher than last year.

Regency operates 483 properties across the country, mainly grocery-anchored shopping centers.

"As our grocery partners and other tenants look to further expand their footprints, high-quality space in top trade areas is hard to come by, creating an opportunity for us to leverage our platform," Palmer said.

"As we further grow our ground-up development pipeline, it will increasingly be a significant and unequaled differentiator for Regency across the peer group, amplifying total NOI growth beyond the impacts of our same property portfolio," she said.