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This comes as distributable income declined 27.5% to $78.1 million in Q2 2020, from $107.7 million in Q2 2019. Photo: CapitaLand
CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.11 cents in the second quarter of 2020, down 27.7% from the 2.92 cents registered in the second quarter of 2019.
This comes as distributable income declined 27.5% to $78.1 million in Q2 2020, from $107.7 million in Q2 2019. CMT noted that Q2’s distributable income included the release of $23.2 million or one-third of the $69.6 million taxable distributable income retained in Q1 2020.
Gross revenue and net property income also fell 39.8% and 48.9% to $114 million and $68 million, respectively.
Unitholders will receive their DPU for Q2 2020 on 28 August.
For the first half of 2020, DPU fell 49% to 2.96 cents as distributable income declined 48.7% to $109.7 million.
Gross revenue and net property income dropped 16.7% and 20.8% to $318 million and $216 million, respectively.
CMT’s manager attributed the decline in net property income to “lower gross rental income arising from the rental waivers of $76.5 million granted by CMT to tenants affected by COVID-19 as well as lower gross turnover rent and car park income during the “circuit breaker” period”.
Tony Tan, CEO of the trust’s manager, noted that the circuit breaker measures led to unprecedented challenges for Singapore’s retail sector.
And while the phased reopening of the economy from June brought some relief, CMT adopts a cautious view of near-term market conditions, considering the softening demand for retail space and uncertain economic climate.
“We have thus chosen to retain the balance $46.4 million of taxable distributable income from Q1 2020, after releasing $23.2 million in Q2 2020,” he said.
“In the meantime, we are sparing no effort to enhance operational efficiency and build greater resilience into CMT’s retail ecosystem in preparation for the eventual upturn.”
He further revealed that most of their tenants have resume operations since the start of Phase 2 safe reopening on 19 June.
“From then till 5 July 2020, average shopper traffic for the period recovered to 53% of the level a year ago. With further relaxation of measures on certain businesses from 13 July 2020, more tenants have received the permission to operate. Although CMT’s operating performance is still below pre-COVID-19 levels, we are encouraged by the weekly improvements in shopper traffic since reopening.”
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg