A-REIT Posts 11.3% Rise In Q3 Distribution Per Unit To 3.56 Cents

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 18 January 2008

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) on Friday said its distribution per unit (DPU) was 3.56 cents for its third quarter ending December.

This was an 11.3 percent rise over the DPU recorded in the same quarter of the last financial year.

The latest DPU figure represented an annualised yield of 5.66 percent based on A-REIT’s closing price of S$2.46 per unit on 31 December 2007.

All in, A-REIT is distributing S$47.2 million to unit holders, up 15 percent on-year.

With Singapore’s strong economic performance, A-REIT said its net property income rose 16.3 percent on-year to S$61.4 million. Gross revenue came in 13 percent higher at S$80.2 million.

A-REIT said it saw positive organic growth across all sectors.

It’s Business & Science Parks and Hi-Tech Industrial sectors registered double digit growth in renewal rates over prevailing rates.

Occupancy rates stood at a high of 98.7 percent across the portfolio and 97 percent for multi-tenanted buildings.

A-REIT said this was due to the strong demand for alternative quality office space outside the central business district and the continued influx of multinational companies setting up or expanding operations in Singapore.

The Trust said that if the positive economic and market conditions are sustained, A-REIT is poised for another year of stable returns for its unitholders.