CRCT – BT

CapitaRetail China's DPU up 12% in Q1

CAPITARETAIL China Trust (CRCT) remains confident about its prospects in China, the "bright spot in a still uncertain global economy", and its ability to tap into China's robust consumption growth.

CRCT posted a 23.6 per cent increase in income available for distribution in Q1 to $16.6 million, which translated to a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.41 cents for the first quarter ended March – a 12.1 per cent year-on-year increase.

This translates to an annualised DPU of 9.69 cents. Based on CRCT's closing unit price of $1.265 on April 16, the annualised distribution yield is 7.7 per cent.

Gross revenue for the quarter climbed 18.3 per cent year-on-year to RMB188.2 million, due to contributions from CapitaMall Minzhongleyuan, higher occupancy achieved in CapitaMall Qibao, higher revenues in CapitaMall Saihan after successful tenancy adjustment, and higher rental growth in CapitaMall Xizhimen and CapitaMall Wangjing. Net property income (NPI) for the quarter was RMB126.2 million, an 18.3 per cent year-on-year increase.

Converted to Sing dollars, gross revenue and NPI grew 22.7 per cent to $37.9 million and $25.4 million respectively, mainly due to a stronger RMB against the Singapore dollar.

Tony Tan, chief executive of CRCT manager CapitaRetail China Trust Management, said: "We are pleased that all our multi-tenanted malls continued their growth momentum and achieved double-digit growth. Our two largest malls, CapitaMall Xizhimen and CapitaMall Wangjing, saw NPI growth of 14.0 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively.

"Across our portfolio, we registered strong rental reversion of 13.0 per cent, reflecting our retailers' confidence in our malls and China's retail industry overall."

CRCT said it has begun tenancy adjustments at CapitaMall Minzhongleyuan, and will soon commence asset enhancement works at the mall. The asset enhancement initiative (AEI) is expected to take place over the next two to three years and estimated capital expenditure required is RMB 74.0 million.

CRCT owns nine malls located in six of China's cities. As at end-March, CRCT's total asset size was approximately $1.5 billion.