SINGAPORE (Jan 24): ARA Trust Management (Suntec), the manager of Suntec REIT, has declared a 4Q17 distribution per unit of 2.604 cents, 0.3% higher than 2.596 cents in 4Q16.
This brings the trust’s DPU for FY17 to 10.005 cents, relatively unchanged from 10.003 cents in FY16.
Gross revenue for the quarter was $87.3 million, representing a 1.8% y-o-y decline from $88.9 million previously.
This was mainly due to lower contribution from Suntec Singapore and Suntec City office as some of the office leases committed in 4Q17 will commence only in 2018, and offset in part by higher retail contributions.
For similar reasons, net property income (NPI) came in 2.2% lower at $59.4 million compared to $60.7 million in 4Q16.
As at end-2017, the debt-to-asset ratio stood at 35.0% while the all-in financing cost for 4Q17 was 2.62% per annum.
The Singapore office portfolio achieved an overall committed occupancy of 99.7%, with committed occupancies for Suntec City Office, One Raffles Quay and Marina Bay Financial Centre Properties were at 99.5%, 100% and 99.8% respectively.
For the Singapore retail portfolio, the overall committed occupancy as at 31 December 2017 was 99%. The committed occupancy for Suntec City Mall was 99%, while the committed occupancy for Marina Bay Link Mall improved to 99.5%.
In Australia, the committed occupancy for 177 Pacific Highway maintained at 100% while the committed occupancy for Southgate Complex (Office) improved to 90.7%.
Chan Kong Leong, CEO of the manager, attributes what he dubs a “robust performance for the year” to steady income from the Singapore assets as well as the properties in Australia.
“During the fourth quarter of 2017, we renewed and signed approximately 330,000 sq ft of leases, reducing the 2018 leases expiring to only 11.3% of NLA. Looking ahead, whilst the Singapore office market has shown positive growth, we are cognisant of the remaining vacant space in the newly completed buildings and secondary stock in the market,” comments Chan.
“With the opening of the additional 16 stations on the Downtown line in October 2017, we expect changes in commuting habits and Suntec City will be in a good position to capture those shifts. Looking ahead, we will continue to create value for our stakeholders to further strengthen Suntec City’s value proposition,” he adds.
Units in Suntec REIT closed flat at $2.17 on Tuesday.
