SINGAPORE (Apr 20): The manager of Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT) has declared a 2Q18 distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.40 cents, down 4.4% from its 2Q17 DPU of 2.51 cents a year ago on lower revenue and income from properties.
Revenue for the quarter fell 18% to $33 million from $40.2 million, mainly due to occupancy rates for the properties in Singapore, Central Park, 357 Collins Street, the absence of one-off payment in relation to a termination of lease in Central Park and the effects of the average weaker Australian dollar.
As such, net property income (NPI) declined 25.3% on year to $22.4 million for the abovementioned reasons as well as higher repair and maintenance expenses for Caroline Chisholm Centre.
The gross revenue and NPI figures are before contribution from FCOT’s 50% indirect interest in Farnborough Business Park, which is held as a joint venture (JV) and is equity-accounted.
See: Frasers Centrepoint and Frasers Commercial Trust acquire Farnborough Business Park for $314.8 mil
As at end-Mar, the portfolio average committed occupancy rate was 83.5%.
This quarter’s DPU includes an advanced distribution of 0.80 cents per unit for Jan 2018, which was paid out in cash on 12 Mar.
The balance DPU of 1.60 cents for the period from 1 Feb 2018 to 31 Mar 2018 will be paid out on 30 May 2018.
Jack Lam, CEO of the manager, notes the accretive contribution of accretive contribution of Farnborough Business Park commencing from end-Jan 2018, and says the manager will look to extract further value from the property and grow its income contribution even more going forward.
“We are pleased that FCOT has been granted right of first refusal over Frasers Property Group’s portfolio of business parks in the Thames Valley, which will present opportunities to scale-up the Trust’s UK presence in the future. Combined with similar rights granted over Frasers Property Group’s relevant assets in Singapore and Australia, we have a potential pipeline of over $4 billion to provide diversified and long-term growth for Unitholders,” says Lam.
Units in FCOT closed 1.4% higher at $1.48 on Thursday.
