Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) announced that its DPU for FY2021 ended December 2021 came in at 3.78 cents, a first-time increase of 1.6% from the annual payout of 3.73 cents since 2016.
On the back of this, the group achieved a 5.1% y-o-y increase in revenue to $1.6 billion, compared to $1.5 billion in the previous year, largely driven by higher contribution from City Energy and Ixom.
Overall, the group saw an increase in costs and expenses, which includes a 33.9% y-o-y increase in fuel and electricity cost to $135.6 million, a 15.7% increase in staff costs to $165.2 million and a 10.6% increase in other operating expenses to $108.6 million.
Profit for the year from continuing operations however declined by 36.7% to $23.8 million from $37.6 million a year ago.
Including an 80.3% increase in losses from discontinued operations of $161.9 million, the group recorded a loss of $128.8 million, significantly higher than $34.5 million in the previous year, due mainly to derecognition of Basslink net of higher contribution from Ixom.
As at end December 2021, the trust’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $809.8 million.
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Looking ahead, the trust intends to build a well-diversified portfolio of infrastructure businesses and assets that generate long-term growth in distributions and contribute to a sustainable future. It plans to drive growth organically and inorganically, while leveraging the Keppel ecosystem for opportunities.
It has a “renewed focus towards growth”, as it plans to push its focus on evergreen, yield accretive assets and businesses that will benefit from secular growth trends. Some of the key asset classes that the trust is looking into include traditional asset classes with long-term utility-like contracted cash flows; asset classes that benefit from the low-carbon economy; asset classes that support the digital economy; and socio-economic infrastructure that furthers economic growth and enhances social well-being.
Units in KIT closed at 55 cents on Jan 26.
