Month: October 2008
CRCT – BT
CRCT’s Q3 distributable income rises
CAPITARETAIL China Trust (CRCT) reported a 52.6 per cent jump in its distributable income for its 2008 third quarter yesterday and said it has secured refinancing for a US$105 million loan facility maturing soon.
Thanks to strong revenue growth, CRCT reported a distributable income of $12.4 million for the three months ended Sept 30, against $8.2 million for Q3 2007. Gross revenue surged 48.8 per cent to $28.3 million, helped by the $7.8 million in revenue contribution from Beijing’s Xizhimen Mall, which was acquired in February this year.
Distribution per unit (DPU) for the quarter stood at 2.01 cents – or 8.01 cents on an annualised basis – 0.3 cent higher than the DPU from a year ago. Its distributable income for the quarter also beat the Reit management’s $11.3 million forecast by 10.5 per cent.
But CRCT missed its Q3 gross revenue forecast by 2.9 per cent, due to poor performance of the Saihan Mall, which has been undergoing asset enhancement works. Saihan Mall’s Q3 revenue of $883,000 was 60.8 per cent lower than projected.
‘Under the current volatile market conditions, the management will focus on driving organic growth through pro-actively managing our portfolio of assets and prudent cost management,’ said chief executive of CRCT management Wee Hui Kan in a media statement. He added that the company will continue to manage its debt conservatively and has secured ‘comfortable refinancing terms’ for the US$105 million loan facility that is maturing late next month.
The refinancing terms of the loan are based on an interest rate that is ‘within the forecast’ of 5 per cent, and the next major term refinancing is set at 2010, the company said. CRCT’s gearing is 31 per cent and has an interest cover of eight times. Total borrowings stand at $344.2 million, including the US$105 million loan.
The trust’s average portfolio rental rates for new leases and renewals registered 16.9 per cent above forecast, CRCT said, adding that the phase 2 acquisition of Xizhimen mall is still set for completion by Q1 of next year. But CRCT said it expects demand to decline in the second half as many retailers have expanded or leased new space prior to the Olympic Games. CRCT said it has retained $400,000 of its Q3 distributable income to ‘help negate any fluctuating income flow in Q4’.
MP REIT – BT
MP Reit’s DPU up 15.6%
Its rental income remains strong in Q3 despite challenging market
MACQUARIE Pacific Star, the manager of MP Reit, said yesterday that the trust’s third-quarter distributable income was $17.2 million.
Distribution per unit (DPU) for the period July 1 to Sept 30 was 1.78 cents, 15.6 per cent higher than 1.54 cents in the previous corresponding period. On an annualised basis, the latest distribution represents a yield of 8.58 per cent.
Gross revenue for MP Reit was $32.6 million, or 24.8 per cent higher than the $26.1 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago. This was driven mainly by higher rents achieved from renewals, new leases and revenue from the overseas properties. Net property income was higher at $23.6 million, an increase of 21.7 per cent from a year earlier.
Stephen Girdis, chairman of Macquarie Pacific Star, said that rental income remained strong in Q3 ‘despite the current challenging market’.
Franklin Heng, Macquarie Pacific Star’s CEO, added: ‘The supply of new office space in Orchard Road in the next few years is limited and we expect to still reap some rent reversions from office leases expiring in the next year.’
Commenting on Tuesday’s announcement that YTL Corporation has entered into a sale-and-purchase agreement to acquire Macquarie Group’s 26 per cent stake in MP Reit and a 50 per cent stake in the holding company of Macquarie Pacific Star, the officials said that in the challenging environment and in the midst of a strategic review, no firm offer to acquire 100 per cent of MP Reit’s units or its investments was received.
‘In light of the above, MP Reit’s strategic review has been concluded and Macquarie Pacific Star looks forward to working with the new sponsor, YTL Corp, in the interests of unitholders, in assessing and implementing the new strategic initiatives available to MP Reit,’ the trust manager said.
MP Reit refinanced $220 million through a club deal with three foreign banks in August 2008. As at Sept 30, MP Reit’s gearing level was 28.9 per cent, and 89.4 per cent of its borrowings were fixed.
It ended trading yesterday up one cent to $0.55.
CDLH-Trust – BT
CDL Hospitality Trusts Q3 income up 30% to $24.4m
CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) yesterday said that its third quarter distributable income rose 29.7 per cent to $24.4 million, from $18.8 million a year ago.
Distribution per unit for the three months ended Sept 30 was 2.93 cents, 24.2 per cent higher than the 2.36 cents reported for the corresponding period last year.
Net property income for Q3 rose 20.7 per cent to $27.3 million, from $22.6 million in Q3 2007.
CDLHT is a stapled group comprising a real estate investment trust (Reit) and a business trust.
In Q3 2008, the room revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the Reit’s Singapore hotels – Orchard Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, M Hotel, Copthorne King’s Hotel and Novotel Clarke Quay – rose to $214, from $176 a year ago. The Reit also owns one hotel in New Zealand – Rendezvous Hotel Auckland.
However, the average occupancy rate fell slightly by about four percentage points to 85.5 per cent as visitor arrivals to Singapore fell. But the Reit was still able to report better earnings as room rates were higher this year.
In particular, the Reit benefited from the strong performance of its hotels during the Formula One Grand Prix, when room rates were about twice the average rates.
‘We are pleased to have been able to report robust growth in this quarter on the base of organic growth across CDLHT’s portfolio of hotels despite turmoil in the global financial markets,’ said Vincent Yeo, chief executive of the Reit’s manager.
CDLHT’s debt-to-asset ratio rose to 19.3 per cent over Q3 of this year as total debt rose to $297 million. The trust has some $220 million of debt due for refinancing in July 2009. Refinancing has yet to be locked in, but the trust is in discussions with banks and chances of securing refinancing are good, said Mr Yeo.
Looking ahead over the short term, the events of the last few months will have some impact on CDLHT’s business, Mr Yeo said.
But the trust is still upbeat about the prospects of Singapore tourism in the future, citing high-profile events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conferences in 2009 and the Youth Olympics in 2010 as well as the annual F1 event.
The trust is likely to see mainly organic growth in the short term, but 2009 could provide more opportunities for acquisitions, especially if distressed assets turn up on the market, Mr Yeo said.
CDLHT gained 0.5 cent to close at 59 cents yesterday. The stock has lost 74.9 per cent so far this year.
CDL H-Trust – BT
SINGAPORE – Singapore said on Thursday it will likely miss its targets for travel arrivals and tourism revenues this year after the number of foreign visitors fell for the fourth straight month in September.
Visitors to the city-state totalled 739,000 in September, down 4.1 per cent year-on-year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in a statement.
Travellers from Indonesia, Australia, China, India and Japan accounted for 52 per cent of the arrivals.
Arrivals fell 4.1 per cent in June, 3.8 per cent in July and 7.7 per cent in August.
The STB said the decline in arrivals reflects the global economic slowdown, while the gloomy outlook for the tourism sector is likely to continue into next year.
‘With the current global economic climate, there is now a general air of uncertainty which has impacted consumer sentiments and discretionary spending.
‘Visitor arrivals and tourism receipts are expected to fall short of the 2008 targets,’ it said.
Singapore has aimed to attract 10.8 million visitors and earn tourism revenues of $15.5 billion (US$10.6 billion) this year.
The decline came even after Singapore hosted an estimated 40,000 foreign visitors for Formula One’s first ever night race on September 28. — AFP
Cambridge – BT
Cambridge Industrial Trust Management(CITM), the manager of Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT), has announced a distribution of 1.490 cents per unit for the quarter July 1 2008 to Sept 30 2008.
Net property income exceeded forecast by 8.0 per cent while distributable income exceeded forecast by 8.2 per cent, it said. Its annualised DPU of 5.928 cents represents a 7.0 per cent increase over the forecast DPU for the same period.
Said Ang Poh Seong, CEO of the manager: ‘We are pleased to report another set of steady results for 3Q2008 despite the negative economic climate. These results underscore the defensive nature of the industrial sector in general and CIT in particular.’
At Sept 30 2008, CIT’s occupancy rate remains at 100 per cent and it is on track to complete its refinancing, it said.