Simon Property Cuts Full-Year Outlook - Update

(RTTNews) - Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG) Thursday cut its outlook for full year 2014, to reflect the impact of Washington Prime Group Inc. (WPG) spin-off, and the related transaction costs. The spin-off became effective May 28, 2014.

Equity real estate investment trust Simon Property now expects 2014 net income per share to be in the range of $4.21 to $4.31, down from the prior estimate of $4.55 to $4.65 per share.

The impact of spin-off of WPG properties were $0.24 per share, and transaction expenses related to the spin-off totaled $0.10 per share.

The company now anticipates funds from operations or FFO per share to be between $8.96 and $9.06, that included the impact of spin-off of $0.54 per share, and transaction expenses of $0.10 per share. The firm earlier forecast FFO of $9.60 to $9.70 per share.

On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $9.81 per share for 2014. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For the second-quarter ending June 30, 2014, Simon Property expects net income to be about $0.89 to $0.91 per share and FFO per share to be around $2.10 to $2.12. Meanwhile, analysts are currently looking for second-quarter earnings of $2.32 per share.

The second quarter guidance also reflects the impact of the spin-off of the Washington Prime properties, and includes about $0.10 of transaction costs related to the spin-off.

On Wednesday, Simon Property completed the spin-off of Washington Prime Group Inc. Earlier this month, Simon Property's board of directors had declared the distribution of all of the common shares of Washington Prime Group Inc. to its stockholders.

Following the distribution, Washington Prime became an independent, publicly-traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'WPG.'

On February 25, Simon Property had announced the appointment of Mark Ordan as chief executive officer of Washington Prime Group, Inc., a publicly traded REIT, comprised initially of SPG's strip center business and its smaller enclosed malls.

SPG is currently down 0.10 percent at $165.26.