SINGAPORE (Nov 7): EC World Asset Management, the manager of EC World REIT, has declared a 3Q18 DPU of to 1.57 cents, 9% higher than the 1.44 cents declared in 3Q17.
Distributable income saw a 10% increase to $12.4 million from $11.3 million a year ago.
During the quarter, gross revenue remained flat at $23.9 million as compared to last year, mainly due to contribution from the REIT’s newly acquired Wuhan Meiluote, but was partially offset by a weaker RMB.
Property expenses saw a 4.9% y-o-y drop to $1.69 million, bringing net property income for 3Q18 to $22.2 million, a slight 0.5% increase from $22.1 million in the previous year.
The REIT registered foreign exchange gain of $1.63 million in 3Q18, compared to a loss of $0.25 million in 3Q17, mainly due to revaluation of loans in foreign currency.
As at end-September, the REIT’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $40.5 million.
Committed portfolio occupancy for the period came in at 99.2%.
Goh Toh Sim, executive director and CEO of the manager, says, “We are delighted to deliver another quarter of healthy distributions for our unitholders despite the macroeconomic headwinds and global uncertainty. EC World REIT’s assets are generally unaffected as the tenants within the portfolio serve primarily the domestic China market focused on domestic consumption. As such, we do not expect the ongoing global uncertainty to have material negative impact on the operation of our assets.”
Units in EC World REIT closed flat at 68 cents on Wednesday.
