Ascott Residence Trust said its distribution per unit (DPU) for the fourth quarter was 2.16 cents.
That is 16 per cent better than the 1.87 cents DPU declared over the same period a year ago.
The DPU is also 17 per cent higher than the 1.84 Singapore cents forecast by the company in September 2010.
Ascott said this is largely due to higher revenue in the October-to-December quarter, which is up by 58 per cent to S$72.8 million.
Meanwhile, unitholders’ distribution for the fourth quarter more than doubled to S$23.9 million on-year.
Ascott said the better performance comes on the back of strong contribution from the 28 properties in Asia and Europe acquired in October last year.
Going forward, it will continue to seek yield-accretive acquisitions in Singapore, China, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. The trust added that it will also explore opportunities in new emerging markets.
For the whole year, Ascott’s DPU came in at 7.54 cents, up three per cent from the previous year’s DPU of 7.32 cents.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 21 Jan 2011