A-REIT – BT

Acquisitions lift A-Reit’s Q3 DPU by 5.8%

Revenue rises 15.7% to $127.3m while net income climbs 11.6% to $93.9m

ASCENDAS Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) saw better results for its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2011, on the back of increased rental income arising from the completion of projects and acquisitions since December 2010.

Gross revenue for the quarter climbed 15.7 per cent year-on-year to $127.3 million as rental from acquisitions rolled in. Net property income rose to $93.9 million, up 11.6 per cent from the year before.

Total amount of income available for distribution also jumped 17.4 per cent to $72.5 million. As a result, distribution per unit (DPU) for Q3 came in at 3.48 cents, 5.8 per cent higher than the 3.29 cents a year earlier.

Cumulatively, for the nine months since the start of the financial year, gross revenue rose 10.2 per cent from the previous year to $368.9 million, while net property income rose 7 per cent to $273.2 million over the same period.

This led to an 11.9 per cent increase in the total amount available for distribution to $208.9 million, translating to a DPU of 10.06 cents.

Yesterday, the counter closed three cents, or 1.5 per cent, higher at $2.01.

Commenting on the industrial Reit’s occupancy, chief executive officer and executive director of the Reit’s manager, Tan Ser Ping, said: ‘Occupancy for the multi-tenanted properties and the portfolio declined marginally from the previous quarter to 92.4 per cent and 95.9 per cent from 93.0 per cent and 96.4 per cent respectively due to the acquisition of a property in the third quarter which has a relatively low occupancy. However, positive rental reversions of between 5.7 per cent and 28.4 per cent were achieved across all segments.’

The Reit’s aggregate leverage as at Dec 31 stood at 34.3 per cent.

The group expects a stable performance for its full financial year ending March 31, 2012, barring any unforeseen events.