SINGAPORE (Jan 31): OUE Commercial REIT (OUE C-REIT) saw a 3.4% drop in 4Q17 DPU to 1.14 cents compared to 1.18 cents in the same period last year.
This brings FY17’s DPU to 4.67 cents, 9.8% lower than 5.8 cents in the previous year.
In 4Q, the REIT recorded $17.7 million available for distribution, 14.6% higher than $15.4 million in 4Q16.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $44.0 million, 2.3% lower than $45.0 million in the previous year, due to lower one-off income in the current period.
Property operating expenses also dropped 8.9% to $9.30 million from $10.2 million a year ago.
Hence, net property income for 4Q17 stood at $34.7 million, a slight 0.3% decrease from $34.8 million last year.
Finance costs declined 42.9% to $11.7 million, compared to $20.4 million in the previous year.
Gross rental income for the about 19.3% of the REIT’s portfolio is due for renewal in 2018.
OUE C-REIT’s portfolio consists of One Raffles Place and OUE Bayfront located in Singapore, as well as Lippo Plaza in Shanghai, China.
Tan Shu Lin, CEO of the manager says, “The manager will continue to focus its efforts to proactively attract and retain tenants to ensure healthy occupancy rates, as well as maintain cost efficiency so as to mitigate any impact on rental income as a result of negative rental reversions. Together with our prudent and disciplined approach to capital management, we remain committed to delivering stable and sustainable returns for our unitholders.”
Units in OUE C-REIT closed at 75 cents flat on Wednesday.
