The manager of Ascendas REIT (A-REIT) has declared a distribution per unit of 7.598 cents for the 2HFY2021 ended December, 2.4% higher than the DPU of 7.418 cents in the corresponding period the year before.
The half-year DPU brings A-REIT’s full-year DPU to 15.258 cents, 3.9% higher than the previous year’s total DPU of 14.688 cents.
A-REIT’s revenue for the 2HFY2021 grew by 21.3% y-o-y to $640.5 million mainly due to the full period revenue contribution from the acquisitions completed in 2HFY2020. The revenue growth was also attributable to the 11 European data centre properties that were acquired in March 2021 and contributions from Galaxis and Grab HQ in Singapore during the 2HFY2021.
2HFY2021 property operating expenses stood 18.1% up y-o-y at $165.3 million, mainly due to the acquisitions made during the FY2021.
Consequently, net property income (NPI) for the 2HFY2021 grew 18.6% y-o-y to $920.8 million
Total amount available for distribution rose 17.0% y-o-y to $630.0 million over 4.13 billion units.
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Based on Ascendas Reit’s FY2021 performance, the manager is entitled to receive approximately $15.8 million of the performance fee. In view of the Covid-19 rental rebates mandated by the Singapore government that resulted in a lower FY2020 DPU, the manager has voluntarily made a one-off waiver of its entitled performance fee to the extent of the effect of the rental rebates. Hence, the REIT's unitholders will receive 15.258 cents (+3.9% y-oy) instead of 15.058 Singapore cents (+2.5% y-o-y) for FY2021.
As at end-December, A-REIT logged a total of 220 properties, up from the 200 properties as at the end of the FY2020.
During the year, the REIT also completed a record $2.1 billion worth of new investments, bringing the total amount of investment properties under its belt to $16.3 billion.
As at end-December, A-REIT’s portfolio occupancy rate increased by 1.5 percentage points y-o-y and q-o-q to 93.2%, mainly due to improvements seen in the REIT’s Singapore, Australia and US portfolios.
Its portfolio weighted average lease expiry (WALE) stood at 3.8 years as at end-December, with a positive average rental reversion of 4.5% for leases renewed during the FY2021.
Cash and cash equivalents as at end-December stood at $368.5 million.
William Tay, CEO and executive director of the manager said that the REIT was “pleased” to deliver a y-o-y growth to its unitholders.
He adds that the REIT is “well-positioned to capture growth in the new economy”; the REIT deployed over $2 billion in capital to invest in properties across its four existing markets
As at end-December, about 81% of A-REIT’s assets under management (AUM) comprises properties in new economy sectors such as technology, life science, data centre and logistics. These properties contributed 78% to FY2021’s total gross revenue, says Tay.
In its outlook statement, A-REIT says its Singapore properties, which recently underwent several asset enhancement initiatives (AEIs) and redevelopments to upgrade property specifications, unlock value through repositioning or meet green rating requirements, are “expected to generate higher returns” for its portfolio.
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The REIT’s new logistics properties in Australia – Lot Kiora Crescent in Sydney and 500 Green Road in Brisbane – are expected to be completed in the 1QFY2022 for $90.2 million. A-REIT’s new suburban office in Sydney, MQX4, is expected to be completed in the 4QFY2022.
Unitholders will receive their distributions on March 11.
Units in A-REIT closed 2 cents higher or 0.72% up at $2.80 on Feb 8.
Photo: A-REIT
