Fifty years ago, General Property Trust (GPT) listed on the ASX. In so doing, it changed the lives of income investors for good.

Since then, Australia has become a global leader in listed commercial property. Local and offshore investors have been attracted to the relatively high income of AREITs and their competitive, risk-adjusted returns.

Then came Covid and an altogether different environment tailormade to tarnish the sector.

The mighty Westfield had put Australia on the map as a global retail real estate leader but also gave us one of the highest exposures to retail real estate in the world. Within a few days of lockdown, shopping centres were empty with the enforced switch to online seeing several years of growth compressed into a few weeks.

In offices across the country a similar shift was taking place. Having prevaricated for years over the pros and cons of working-from-home, managers and their staff were surprised at how smoothly and quickly the transition occurred.

These factors were the writing on the wall for the AREIT sector. Having reached a high over 64,000 in late February 2020, the ASX300 AREIT accumulation (total return) index fell 37% in March as investors tried to comprehend the implications of the unknown. Shopping centre stocks were amongst the hardest hit, notably the large mall landlords Scentre (down 55%) and Vicinity (down 52%) as investors panicked around whether their shopping centres would ever re-open.

ASX300 (Equities) vs AREIT300 Accumulation Index

Source: APN Property Group, S&P

The forlorn outlook many experts predicted back then hasn't eventuated, with Australia's largely successful control of the pandemic getting much of the credit. Those offshore investors that ran for the hills last March have since turned tail, realising Australia was a better place to invest in a pandemic.

AREITs have since recovered significant ground with the vaccine announcement delivering a further boost. Still, the sector continues to trail the broader Australian equity market recovery (refer above chart) which is an opportunity for investors focusing on the long term.

The structural concerns that first surfaced as the pandemic took hold, along with the absence of international tourists and immigration, explain much of the gap. The Government-mandated Leasing Code of Conduct was also a significant burden (not placed on most businesses) for landlords.

The code removed a tenant's obligation to meet contracted rental payments under the lease contract, meaning landlords were having to support their business partner (tenants) which created great uncertainty for investors. As some support is still being provided, this continues to weigh on the sector's recovery.

Thus far, AREIT landlords have provided more than $1b in support under the Code, with almost all of it ( more than 90%) delivered by owners of retail properties (notably large malls).

The unintended consequence is that those businesses most impacted by the pandemic - namely large mall landlords, Scentre and Vicinity - have provided the highest levels of tenant support. The impact on their bottom lines has been pronounced and prolonged.

Where are the opportunities?

While all AREITs have recovered significantly from their March 2020 lows it is in the dispersion of that performance where opportunities lie. Those AREITs currently trading well below their pre-pandemic 2020 highs include Vicinity (down 40%), Scentre Group (down 34%) and GPT (down 27%) all of whom were burdened with additional Covid impacts (Lockdowns and the leasing Code).  These names will recover, providing solid returns to investors focused on the long term.

However, as always, there's a caveat. AREIT performance is inextricably linked to the Australian economy. On that score, the ongoing recovery will be boosted by six factors:

1. a return to the office will assist struggling CBD retail as foot traffic rises;
2. price growth in residential property and ongoing construction will boost retail, especially DIY and homeware categories and improving consumer confidence. Consumers' willingness to spend, a key plank in the path for a return to pre-Covid life, should gather pace;
3. the vaccine roll-out will further lift business and consumer confidence;
4. the return of international tourism, potentially exceeding prior levels (revenge travel as consumers look to catch-up), should have a similar impact;
5. as will the return of international students, with residential and retail property clearly benefiting. Overseas students can also help us address current labour shortages; and
6. the return of immigration will be a major economic driver and, as with foreign students, residential real estate will be a major beneficiary, with flow on benefits for office/retail and other real estate sectors.

These factors point to AREITs performing well over coming years. Between 2010 and 2019 AREITs returned 11.6% p.a. (mainly from income). According to UBS data, over the past 20 years AREITs have delivered an average return of 9.6% a year, including an average distribution yield of 6.9% p.a. The income investors received is almost 50% higher than equities over this period.

This is a key takeaway for income investors - it is the income component of AREIT returns that is the most predictable. With the recovery underway, investors can again expect to rely on it.

The risks

The major risks to the AREIT sector concern all those factors that may apprehend the economic recovery. Inflationary pressures that may result in higher interest rates, damaging the wealth effect, the continued slow pace of vaccine rollout and more damaging mutations should all be considered. While inflation has become a growing concern across financial markets, it could see more investors turn to commercial real estate which has leases that have inflation linked or fixed rental escalations providing a level of protection that other asset classes cannot provide.

And there remain unknowns in the office and retail sectors, although in our view these are diminishing each day. In sticking to high quality, well-located properties with premium tenants, as APN Property Group likes to do, these risks can generally be offset.

Three major trends

1.  The benefits of funds management earnings to AREIT growth

In recent years, Charter Hall and Goodman Group have grown their funds management operations. Their moves proved prescient. Covid highlighted the reliability of their earnings under significant market stress. As recognised leaders in real estate asset management, the growth in funds management earnings by AREITs is set to continue.

2.  Not all retail is created equal

Large malls with heavy exposure to discretionary retail suffered from lockdowns and reduced foot traffic while non-discretionary convenience centres underpinned by supermarkets thrived. Large format retail (LFR) centres, meanwhile, fed our demand for homewares, electrical, furniture and everyday needs. A recent LFR transaction occurred at a 50% premium to the December 2020 valuation. Post-Covid, most assets will continue to deliver healthy income but investors should remember not all retail is created equal.

3.  Say hello to new commercial property asset classes

Already, there are two listed Childcare (or social infrastructure) REITs with more to come. Hotels (pubs) and primary produce is another sector getting attention from commercial property investors with FY21 seeing a record year of transactions. Service stations assets also deliver bond-like returns but with growing income, underpinned by high quality tenant covenants and strong investor demand (2020 saw a record level of transactions) with the added benefit of alternative use potential (when electric vehicles dominate our roads). The future AREIT index may look more like its US counterpart, where commercial property investors can add healthcare properties, life science and government buildings and even mobile phone towers to their portfolios.

This article has been prepared by APN Funds Management Limited (ACN 080 674 479, AFSL No. 237500) for general information purposes only and without taking your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. You should consider these matters and read the product disclosure statement (PDS) for each of the funds described in this article in its entirety before you make an investment decision. The PDS contains important information about risks, costs and fees associated with an investment in the relevant fund. For a copy of the PDS and more details about a fund and its performance, visit our website at www.apngroup.com.au.

At midnight a couple of days ago the FDA announced the approval Biogen's Alzheimer's drug aducanumab.

Usually when a drug is approved it's cause for celebration, the culmination of perhaps decades of academic and clinical work. The moment is hugely meaningful for patients, doctors, and their families. 

Not in this case. The FDA's independent scientific panel and own statisticians concluded this drug had no measurable effect. 

Aducanumab was tested in two well designed Phase III trials. They were double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging, and most important of all, with thousands of patients around the world, they were large enough to power a result. If this drug had any significant effect, it had plenty of opportunity to show it.

Instead, the trials were halted early for futility and the drug caused dangerous brain swelling in some 40% of recipients. Which makes the decision all the more surprising. 

When China and Russia announced they had coronavirus vaccines, the world ignored them and looked to the FDA. This is the institution that stood alone against thalidomide. And this week it approved a drug with no evidence of efficacy. 

Biogen tortured the data, mixing patients from one study where the drug had a marginal benefit, with the other, that showed a marginal decline. This sort of post-hoc data mixing to prove a point is a statistical crime.

The FDA didn't approve on this sketchy basis, but rather because the drug cleared amyloid beta plaques. And it was on this, rather than Biogen's shonky data manipulation, that the drug was approved.

Long-time readers will know that we share the increasingly common view that amyloid beta hypothesis is flawed as:
1) every drug that clears amyloid beta fails to show any clinical benefit (there have been many), and
2) many people die naturally with plenty of amyloid beta in their brains, but never get Alzheimer's. 

A hypothesis that actually fits the medical data is that amyloid beta is an effect, not a cause.

The situation is worsened by Biogen's commercial cynicism.

Analysts coalesced around a $10k annual cost estimate for the drug, with the highest at $25k. Biogen has stated they will charge US$56k pa, for a chronic disease that lasts years. 

The FDA asked Biogen to conduct a confirmatory study to prove the drug's effectiveness.

Biogen promptly announced they complete this trial in 2030, giving almost a decade to sell a dangerous, useless drug... and that's before the inevitable delays. We can be sure this study will be done as slowly as possible.

The FDA made a similar call with Sarepta, approving a drug against their own expert advice, on condition of a confirmatory trial. Five years later, the trial has not been done. Why would any company pay money to kill their golden goose?

In another Biogen-friendly curiosity, the FDA approved the drug for all Alzheimer's patients, not just those with early stage disease or with particular biomarkers. There are over 5 million Alzheimer's patients in the US, so the cost of this could exceed US$100 billion a year. That is enough to move the needle on the entire US medical system. This decision could blow back hard onto the pharmaceutical industry.

As one of our advisors put it, it will be quite some time before the full ramifications become clear. 

Recently there has been a flurry of research into alternative theoriers that fit the data, offer new clinical targets, and in early stage trials have demonstrated a clinical effect. We have small investments in two of these. The FDA's decision will starve these alternative approaches of oxygen. The rational move for every company with a failed beta-amyloid drug is now to resurrect it.

Patient advocacy groups, weaponized by Biogen, have something to answer for here.

The correct approach would have been to allow Biogen to conduct a further study, if they so wished, to prove the drug worked. 

It's early days, but this looks like the biggest scandal in pharma since Valeant and Bill Ackman's corporate skullduggery led to the methodical axing of R&D departments several years ago. Three members of the FDA's advisory panel have already resigned in protest. 

In Biogen, a new corporate villain has been born.

Disclaimer

The information in this note has been prepared and issued by Frazis Capital Partners Pty Ltd ABN 16 625 521 986 as a corporate authorised representative (CAR No. 1263393) of Frazis Capital Management Pty Ltd ABN 91 638 965 910 AFSL 521445. The Frazis Fund is open to wholesale investors only, as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The Company is not authorised to provide financial product advice to retail clients and information provided does not constitute financial product advice to retail clients.

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The Company, and its directors or employees or associates, do not guarantee the performance of any financial product or investment decision made in reliance of any material in this document. The Company does not accept any loss or liability which may be suffered by a reader of this document.