Frasers Centrepoint First Year’s Earnings Beat Forecasts

Source : TODAY, Tuesday, October 23, 2007

FRASERS Centrepoint Trust’s (FCT) distributable income for the fourth quarter ended Sept 30 was $10.3 million, or 1.67 cents per unit. This was 13.6-per-cent higher than its 1.47-cent forecast, due to strong rental reversion, with new leases and renewals recording a 12-per-cent rise.

The real estate investment trust, which listed on the Singapore Exchange in July last year, has a distribution per unit (DPU) of 6.55 cents for the full financial year, up 12 per cent from the 5.85-cent forecast.

“This demonstrates the trend for strong and sustainable rents for FCT’s malls, and our asset enhancement initiatives will benefit tenants and pave the way for further rental growth,” said FCT asset management chief executive officer Christopher Tang.

“We are firing well on all cylinders.”

The trust, which owns Causeway Point, Northpoint and Anchorpoint, is lining up a list of malls to add to its assets, and is also planning overseas expansion.

Gross revenue for the year was $77.5 million, or 2.7-per-cent higher than forecast revenue of $75.4million.

FCT units closed unchanged at $1.50 yesterday.