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Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur REIT) saw its distribution per unit (DPU) increase 31.9% year-on-year to 1.759 Singapore cents.
Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur REIT), which owns retail outlet malls in China, saw its distribution per unit (DPU) increase 31.9% to 1.759 Singapore cents in the first quarter ended 31 March 2021 from 1.334 cents over the same period last year, revealed its manager Sasseur Asset Management.
Distributable income jumped 47.8% to $23.6 million in Q1 2021 from $16 million in Q1 2020, on the back of “strong business recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic” and asset enhancement initiatives which resulted in “greater diversity in trade mix and operational efficiencies”.
The REIT’s rental income from entrusted management agreements (EMA) climbed 23.7% year-on-year to RMB157.4 million (S$32.6 million) during the period under review, from RMB127.2 million (S$26.35 million) previously.
Excluding straight-line adjustments, EMA rental income rose 27.8% to RMB32.3 million (S$6.7 million) in Q1 2021 from RMB25.3 million (S$5.2 million) over the same period last year.
Sales for Q1 2021 significantly rebounded by 112.6%, as compared to Q1 2020 when the REIT closed its outlets for about seven weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The four retail outlets of the REIT – namely, the Chongqing Liangjiang Outlets, Chongqing Bishan Outlets, Hefei Outlets and Kunming Outlets – saw their occupancy level remain stable at 93.5% during Q1 2021.
“As Sasseur Chongqing and Bishan Outlets are both located in the Chongqing Municipality, the entrusted manager has merged the operations of the two outlets into a ‘unified ecosystem’ in 1Q 2021 to achieve greater synergy and efficiency in operational and inventory management. Joint promotional activities and cross-marketing between both outlets have already yielded early success in the form of improved sales,” said Sasseur Asset Management.
“In addition, as part of the rebranding exercise, the two outlets were renamed as Sasseur (Chongqing Liangjiang) Outlets and Sasseur (Chongqing Bishan) Outlets.”
Looking ahead, Anthony Ang, CEO of Sasseur Asset Management, expects China’s retail outlet industry to continue to be resilient amid the pandemic “as demand from domestic consumers remain high”.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
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