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Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) saw its revenue increase by six percent to $126.7 million in Q4 2016, mainly due to the $11.9 million in additional revenue realised from its acquisition of Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel in 2016.
The increase was partially offset by a $4.4 million decrease in revenue from existing properties, mainly in China and the UK, due to the depreciation of the pound against the Singapore dollar.
Gross profit increased by three percent to $58.2 million, while distribution income rose by six percent to $33.9 million. Distribution per unit (DPU), however, dipped by one percent to 2.04 cents.
For FY 2016, revenue and gross income climbed by 13 percent and by nine percent to $475.6 million and $222.2 million, respectively.
Distribution income grew by nine percent to $135 million, while DPU increased by four percent to 8.27 cents.
Bob Tan, Chairman of the trust’s manager, noted that Ascott Reit posted solid DPU growth and record-breaking distributable income for FY 2016.
“The strong performance was due to our acquisitions of quality assets over the last two years, and our active capital and asset management.
“We acquired Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel last year and our two prime properties in New York enjoy high average occupancy of over 90 percent. The US market was our top contributor to revenue in 2016 and it is now amongst our top five markets in terms of asset value,” he said.
Tan added that Ascott Reit is the biggest hospitality REIT in Singapore with an asset size of $4.8 billion.
“Our acquisition of Ascott Orchard Singapore (pictured), which soft opened in December 2016, is on track to complete this year and it will further boost Ascott Reit’s asset size to $5.2 billion,” he noted.
Looking ahead, Tan said Ascott Reit will continue to enhance its portfolio and focus on providing stable returns to unitholders.
“We are actively seeking accretive acquisitions in gateway cities in markets such as Australia, Japan, Europe and the US. We will also look at divesting properties with limited growth potential and re-deploying the proceeds in higher yielding assets.”
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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