REGENCY CENTERS REPORTS FOURTH-QUARTER EARNINGS BEAT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Regency Centers Corp. (REG) reported Thursday a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter that beat Wall Street expectations.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based real estate investment trust (REIT) said it had funds from operations (FFO) of $199.5 million, or $1.09 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for FFO of $1.07 per share. FFO is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry that takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $83.1 million, or 46 cents per share.

The shopping center REIT posted revenue of $372.5 million in the period.

For the year, the company reported FFO of $790.9 million and revenue of $1.45 billion.

Regency Centers expects full-year FFO to be $4.52 to $4.58 per share.