Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) has posted a distribution per unit of 3.3 cents for the second quarter ending 30th September.
This is a drop of 5.2 percent from the year-ago period, before taking into account new issues placed over the year.
For the second quarter, A-REIT is distributing S$61.8 million to unit holders, up 0.4 percent year-on-year.
For the second half of the financial year, only 5.8 percent of A-REIT’s revenue is due for renewal.
A-REIT says that while vacancy rate seems to have stabilised, new demand for space will depend largely on the pace and strength of the economic recovery.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Manager, Mr Tan Ser Ping said, “While year-on-year gross revenue grew by 8.6 percent, net property income increased by 3.5 percent due to higher operating expenses, attributed to the enlarged portfolio, higher utilities expenses as well as the cessation of land rent and property tax rebates granted by the Singapore Government in 2009.
Rental reversion on lease renewals was positive across most sub-sectors of between 0.6 percent and 11.6 percent.
Occupancy rate moderated slightly to 95.3 percent for the portfolio and 90.5 percent for the multi-tenanted buildings. We are also pleased to report that the Manager has secured further new lease commitments of about 14,783 sqm since 30 September 2010.”
For the current financial year barring any unforeseen events, A-REIT aims to at least maintain the previous financial year’s level of net income.