In its 3QFY2020 business update, CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT) says all its malls and trade sectors are now operational and that its shopper traffic and tenant sales have showed “sustained improvements”.
Shopper traffic for the quarter registered an 89.0% y-o-y recovery compared to 3QFY2019, and a 34.7% improvement q-o-q.
3QFY2020 tenant sales registered a 91.9% recovery y-o-y compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago, and a 25.8% growth q-o-q.
Financially, CRCT, which has a gearing of 34.7%, has a “healthy financial capacity” with refinancings completed. It also has ample debt headroom before reaching regulatory limit.
As at Sept 30, CRCT’s portfolio occupancy rate stood at 93.7% with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 3.5 years by net lettable area (NLA).
Looking ahead, CRCT has embarked on several initiatives including refreshing its offerings including improving the quality of social dining. CRCT is also leveraging on online platforms to complement its offerings offline and engaging shoppers through multiple touchpoints such as livestreaming.
The trust has also planned to transform its portfolio into a multi-asset China-focused REIT platform to capture opportunities in the “new economy” sectors such as business parks, logistics and industrials.
Units in CRCT closed 5 cents lower or 4.1% down at $1.17 on Oct 30.
