MCT – BT

MCT’s maiden distribution beats forecast

DPU of 0.9564 cent 8.7% higher than forecast 0.8795 cent

MAPLETREE Commercial Trust (MCT) yesterday announced a distribution per unit of 0.9564 cent for the period April 27 (its listing date) to June 30, beating its own IPO forecast of 0.8795 cent by 8.7 per cent.

This translates into an annualised distribution yield of 6.1 per cent, at yesterday’s closing price of 88.5 cents per unit.

MCT achieved net property income of $22.7 million, 2 per cent above its forecast, while gross revenue came up to $32.7 million, 0.9 per cent above forecast.

MCT attributed this to higher turnover rent, carpark income and advertising and promotion revenue from VivoCity, which was offset slightly by lower rental income from PSA Building, as carpark income fell slightly due to ongoing construction at Alexander Retail Centre.

Income available for distribution for April 27 to June 30 was $17.8 million, 8.7 per cent higher than forecast, mainly due to higher net income and lower interest costs on borrowings. Since its IPO, the manager has hedged 85 per cent of its total debt of $1.1 billion, achieving actual all-up interest costs of 1.96 per cent, better than the forecast 2.43 per cent.

As MCT only completed its acquisition of PSA Building and Merrill Lynch Harbourfront Building on its listing date, April 27, there are no comparative figures for the year-ago period.

But VivoCity, with close to 100 per cent occupancy, has seen both tenant sales and shopper traffic grow 16 per cent and 12 per cent respectively year-on-year, for the three months ended June 30.

For its office portfolio of Bank of America Merrill Lynch HarbourFront and PSA Building, MCT achieved an occupancy level of 92.8 per cent as at June 30, higher than URA’s fringe office occupancy rate of 91.7 per cent for Q2.

Alexandra Retail Centre (ARC), the section of PSA Building now being upgraded, is also likely to open by March 2012, three months ahead of schedule. Construction is on track for completion by December this year, and one-third of the space has been pre-leased, MCT said.