CLT – BT

Cache Logistics Trust's Q1 DPU up 7% at 2.09 cents

CACHE Logistics Trust delivered a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.09 cents for the first quarter of 2012, a 7 per cent increase from 1.95 cents in the same period last year.

Distributable income was $13.4 million, up 7.6 per cent from the year-earlier period, while net property income rose 11.6 per cent to $16.1 million.

Gross revenue for the quarter was $16.9 million, a 13.9 per cent rise over the previous year, due mainly to additional rental income and revenue from new acquisitions. Net financing costs also increased 29.5 per cent year on year to $2.5 million, largely due to increased borrowings for acquisition funding.

The Q1 results give rise to an annualised DPU of 8.39 cents, and a corresponding distribution yield of 8.4 per cent based on Cache's closing unit price of $1 as at yesterday.

Said Daniel Cerf, CEO of trust manager ARA-CWT Trust Management (Cache) Limited: "The biggest driver for DPU growth is acquisitions. . . We will continue to embark on acquisitions when they make sense . . . to add value to the portfolio as well as the bottom line."

Cache's portfolio is set to comprise 11 assets by the end of April, with the completion of a $35.18 million acquisition and leaseback arrangement of a Changi North warehouse facility with Pan Asia Logistics. The acquisition will provide a starting net property income yield of approximately 7.7 per cent.

Addressing a possible ramping up of supply in the logistic assets sector this year, Mr Cerf said: "We think that this supply will be absorbed . . . on the back of Singapore's attractiveness to third-party logistics providers and manufacturing firms who need to get goods to the market quickly."

Capital and equity management has been on the cards for Cache recently, including the issuing of 60 million new units at 98.5 cents apiece in a private placement on March 21, raising $57.1 million in net proceeds and resulting in a reduced 27.7 per cent gearing ratio as at March 31.

The firm also declared an advanced distribution of 60 million new units of 2.044 cents for the period from Jan 1 to March 29, to be paid on April 30.

Units of the trust gained half a cent to close at $1 yesterday.