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Mapletree Industrial Trust’s (MIT) gross revenue increased by 5.6 percent on an annual basis to S$331.6 million for the financial year that started in April 2015 and ended last month (FY15/16).
Net property income (NPI) also rose by 7.2 percent to S$245.12 million, distributable income climbed 9.4 percent to S$197.83, while distribution per unit (DPU) grew 6.9 percent to 11.15 cents from 6.9 cents a year ago.
“Despite the challenging market conditions, MIT continued to deliver healthy returns in FY15/16,” said Tham Kuo Wei, CEO of its manager, Mapletree Industrial Trust Management Ltd.
“This was largely driven by the contribution from the completed BTS data centre at 26A Ayer Rajah Crescent (pictured) and resilient portfolio performance,” he added.
In addition, MIT’s 85 investment properties were valued at S$3,557.9 million as of 31 March 2016, translating to an annual gain of S$133.7 million, said MIT’s manager in an SGX filing.
This consisted of capitalised cost of S$51.7 million arising from development and improvement works, as well as a revaluation gain of S$82 million due to better portfolio performance, construction progress at the Telok Blangah Cluster and the start of the asset enhancement initiative (AEI) at Kallang Basin 4 Cluster.
The AEI involves the development of an upcoming 14-storey high-spec building that provisionally approved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on 28 March. Notably, the agency allowed the property’s height to be raised from 13 storeys originally due to the project’s higher permitted gross floor area of around 336,000 sq ft.
For the quarter ended on 31 March (Q4 FY15/16), MIT’s gross revenue edged up by 0.9 percent to S$83.99 million on a quarterly basis, while NPI rose 0.2 percent to S$62.02 million.
Distributable income also increased marginally by 0.1 percent to S$50.38 million, but DPU slipped 0.4 percent to 2.81 cents from 2.82 cents during the previous quarter.
At the same time, its average portfolio occupancy slid to 94.6 percent from 94.7 percent in the third quarter, while average passing rent per month inched up to S$1.90 per sq ft from S$1.89 per sq ft in the preceding quarter.
“The rental increase was driven by positive average rental revisions for renewed leases and higher average rental rates secured for new leases during the quarter,” noted Mapletree Industrial Trust Management.
Looking ahead, rental and occupancy rates of industrial properties in Singapore would continue to face downward pressure in light of existing large supply and uncertain global economic prospects.
Furthermore, property expenses are expected to rise due to the economic restructuring in the city-state, it added.
Image source: Mapletree Industrial Trust’s website
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
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