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Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust’s (A-REIT) gross revenue rose 13 percent to S$761 million for the financial year ended March 2016 (FY15/16) compared to S$673.5 million a year ago.
At the same time, net property income increased by 15.3 percent to S$533.7 million from S$462.7 million in FY14/15, while distributable income climbed 7.7 percent to S$378.3 million from S$351.1 million previously.
Distribution per unit (DPU) for the whole of FY15/16 grew 5.2 percent to 15.36 cents versus 14.6 cents in the prior year thanks to higher contributions from new acquisitions. These include 27 logistics properties in Australia, as well as the Aperia, The Kendall, Hyflux Innovation Centre and ONE@Changi City in Singapore.
“We are pleased to report a strong set of results. In addition, assets under management has grown to S$9.9 billion, boosted by acquisitions in Australia and Singapore,” said Chia Nam Toon, CEO of A-REIT’s manager, Ascendas Funds Management (S) Ltd.
During the year, the trust also completed S$96 million asset enhancement initiatives (AEI) and about S$1.5 billion worth of acquisitions. As of end-March, A-REIT has 103 properties in Singapore, 27 in Australia and 3 in China, in addition to the S$43.9 million ongoing development projects.
However, its DPU declined by 8.1 percent from 3.71 cents a year ago to 3.41 cents for Q4 FY15/16.
Credit Suisse also revealed that the occupancy rate of A-REIT’s Singapore portfolio dipped by 1 percentage point (pp) quarter-on-quarter to 87.9 percent mainly from a single tenant vacating the IDS Logistics Corporate HQ. Excluding this, occupancy improved to 88.7 percent for properties acquired in the city-state over the past 12 months.
But the Swiss bank lowered its DPU forecast for the trust by 1.4 to 3.2 percent, given the higher share base due to the conversion of Exchangeable Collateralised Securities (ECS).
On 5 May, A-REIT received a notice to exchange S$14.0 million worth of these securities, requiring it to issue new units that will rank pari passu with respects to the units already in circulation as of today.
Image: Ascendas’s One@Changi City. (Source: Ascendas)
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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