SINGAPORE (July 24): Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) has reported a 4% fall in 1Q DPU to 1.31 cents from 1.36 cents a year ago.
This was due to higher current income tax expenses and income hedging losses arising from the appreciation of the Indian Rupee against the Singapore Dollar.
1Q revenue grew by 30% to $46.7 million, supported by incremental income from new acquisitions, developments, and positive rental reversions.
Net property income for 1Q similarly increased by 29% to $30.4 million from the previous year.
Net finance costs increased by 95% to $7.1 million due to funds deployed to finance the acquisitions of BlueRidge 2, aVance 4 and development of Atria building. There was also a one-off settlement with a tenant at Park Square as as part of our initiative to revamp and refresh the tenant mix of the mall.
Income available for distribution fell 3% to $13.5 million while income to be distributed fell 3% to $12.2 million.
“Excluding the one-off settlement, 1Q DPU would have remained stable at 1.37 cents over the same period,” says Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO of Ascendas Property Fund Trustee, a-iTrust's manager.
a-iTrust’s committed portfolio occupancy -- excluding BlueRidge 2 which has not achieved income stabilisation -- was 97% as at end June.
The committed occupancy for BlueRidge 2 has increased from 55% as at March 2017 to 62% as at June 2017. Active discussions are underway to lease an additional 7% of BlueRidge 2’s floor area.
a-iTrust’s gearing ratio was 30% as at Jun2 30. Based on its current gearing limit of 45%, the trust has additional debt headroom of $445 million.
About 96% of the trust’s borrowings are effectively on a fixed-interest rate basis whi;e 70% of total borrowings were hedged into Indian Rupees.
In Hyderabad, a-iTrust is developing Atria, a 428,000 square feet multi-tenanted building at The V, to cater to expansion demand from existing tenants. Atria is scheduled to be completed by September, and has achieved lease commitment of 84% as at June 30.
In Bangalore, construction of a new 500,000 square feet multi-tenanted building has started in July, and is expected to be completed by second half of 2019.
Units in a-iTrust closed at $1.16 on Monday.
