CapitaLand Mall Trust posts 3Q DPU increase 5% to 2.92 cents

SINGAPORE (Oct 25): The manager of CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) has announced a 3Q18 DPU of 2.92 cents, 5% higher compared to the DPU of 2.78 cents declared for 3Q17.

This came on the back of a 4.9% rise in 3Q18 distributable income to unitholders to $103.5 million from $98.7 million last year.

For the 9M18, DPU came in at 8.51 cents, 3.0% higher than 8.26 cents in 9M17.

Gross revenue for the quarter saw a slight increase of 0.7% to $170.5 million from $169.4 million a year ago, mainly attributable to higher gross revenue from Junction 8 Shopping Centre, IMM, Plaza Singapura, Bedok Mall and Tampines Mall.

But this was partially offset by lower gross revenue from Sembawang Shopping Centre which was divested on June 18, 2018 and lower occupancy and rental rates contracted on new and renewed leases from JCube and Bukit Panjang Plaza.

Property operating expenses decreased by 0.4% y-o-y to $47.8 million, bringing net property income (NPI) for 3Q18 to $122.7 million, 1.1% higher than $121.4 million in the previous year.

During the quarter, share of results of joint ventures saw a significant increase to $52.7 million, compared to $14.9 million last year.

As at Sept 30, CMT’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $347.1 million.

Tony Tan, CEO of CMT’s manager, says, “For our project under development, Funan will open ahead of schedule in 2Q 2019 and start contributing income from the second half of 2019. Including leases under advanced negotiations, the leasing for Funan’s retail and office components has to date reached approximately 70% and 60% respectively.”

Going forward, the manager of CMT says that it will continue to focus on sustaining DPU.

Units in CMT last traded 2 cents lower at $2.14 on Wednesday.