CLT – BT

Cache Logistics reports 8.5% jump in Q4 DPU

Distributable income up 9.2% for the quarter, boosted by acquisitions

CACHE Logistics Trust posted a fourth-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.10 cents, up 8.5 per cent from the previous corresponding period’s 1.94 cents.

Boosted by accretive acquisitions completed last year, the logistics real estate investment trust’s distributable income for the three months ended Dec 31, 2011, came in 9.2 per cent higher at $13.4 million, compared with $12.3 million a year back.

Increased revenue contributions from the acquisition of investment properties since March last year also pushed net property income (NPI) up 11.8 per cent year-on-year to $16.05 million for the final quarter.

On a full-year basis, the NPI and distributable income rose 49.7 per cent and 48.1 per cent to $61.9 million and $52.5 million respectively, from $41.4 million and $35.4 million for the period Feb 11 (date of constitution of the trust) to Dec 31, 2010.

Cache officially commenced operations on April 12, 2010, which is also its listing date.

Full-year DPU was 8.24 cents, giving an annualised yield of 8.7 per cent based on Cache’s closing price of 95 cents as at Dec 31, 2011.

As at the end of 2011, all of the warehouses in Cache’s portfolio continue to be fully tenanted, with a weighted average lease to expiry of 4.6 years.

Gearing remains a healthy 29.6 per cent, leaving more than sufficient debt headroom for future acquisitions.

As at Dec 31, Cache’s total portfolio of investment properties was valued at $842.8 million.

On when the Reit would hit a portfolio size of $1 billion, Daniel Cerf, chief executive officer of ARA-CWT Trust Management (Cache), the manager of Cache, remained tight-lipped, but said he would rather it be ‘sooner than later’ as ‘size does matter’.

However, with the increasing prevalence of bearish takes on the industrial segment, Mr Cerf would prefer to be ‘cautiously optimistic’ going forward.

On the acquisition front, Mr Cerf highlighted that the Reit will continue to seek attractive growth opportunities in the Asia-Pacific, in particular in Singapore and China.

‘Pockets of opportunities remain and we believe that with sound prudent asset and capital management practices, we are well positioned to achieve sustainable, yield-accretive returns going forward,’ said Mr Cerf.

In the longer term, he remains confident that the Reit would be able to ride through the influx of warehousing space in late 2013 and 2014, as most of Cache’s master leases are up for renewal only in 2015.

Yesterday, the industrial trust closed half a cent higher at 99 cents.