Decline in Goodman Property interim profit PROPERTY investor Goodman Property Trust has reported an eight per cent drop in first-half profit as a fall in the value of its interest rate swaps offset a lift in rental income. PROFIT fell to $NZ60.2 million ($A56.04 million) in the six months ended September 30, from $NZ65.4 million in the same period in the previous year, it said. Sales rose 3.5 per cent in the period to $NZ82m, while net rental and related income grew 4.9 per cent to $NZ66.2m. The company booked a loss in its fair value of derivative financial instruments of $NZ4.2m, from a profit of $NZ14.1m in the comparable period a year earlier. In the six months, Goodman sold three properties worth $NZ45.2m, as it continues on a strategy of shedding non-core assets to invest cash into further developments. In the period it spent $NZ77.9m on new projects, and expects to start more than $NZ100m worth of new developments this financial year. "Advancing the development program and growing cash earnings has been a real focus over the last 18 to 24 months," said John Dakin, chief executive of Goodman (NZ), the trust's manager. Financing new development and investment activity through asset recycling is facilitating the trust's business growth while preserving its balance sheet capacity. Post balance date the property investor has entered into a joint venture with Singapore's sovereign wealth investor, GIC, for its $NZ313 million Viaduct Quarter development on Auckland's Waterfront. Goodman is retaining a 51 per cent stake in the venture, but had been looking for a partner to build its Viaduct Corporate Centre, on Auckland's waterfront, having bought the Air New Zealand building and a 50 per cent interest in the corporate centre in 2006. The development grew when Goodman bought the new Fonterra Cooperative Group building, which it is developing with Fletcher Building. "Partnering with a sovereign wealth fund to broaden the trust's investment strategy in the Viaduct signals an important new direction for Goodman," said chairman Keith Smith.