The US currency advanced to its strongest level in more than two years versus the British pound as Hurricane Gustav weakened before making landfall in Louisiana.

The increase was mainly due to the 18 properties acquired over the past year. Management also anticipates strong rental reversions for leases coming up for renewal. The REIT now consists of 81 properties with a book value of $2.7b.

Inter-Roller Engineering Limited (Inter-Roller) is awarded a contract to design, supply and install a Baggage Handling System for the New Quito International Airport in Ecuador.

High materials costs continue to pose a challenge, but IRL appears to be controlling this with gross profit margin of 42% in 1Q08 as compared to 36% in 1Q07. However we remain cautious on the impact of higher materials costs, in particular steel and copper.