Keppel DC REIT's 4Q DPU grows 5.7% to 1.85 cents on higher income

SINGAPORE (Jan 22): The manager of Keppel DC REIT announced a DPU of 1.85 cents for 4Q18, up 5.7% y-o-y from 1.75 cents on the back of higher gross rental income and other income.

This brings the REIT’s full year DPU to 7.32 cents, which is 5% higher than its FY17 DPU of 6.97 cents.

Gross revenue for the quarter grew 30.5% to $48 million from $36.8 million in 4Q17, driven by a 27.9% growth in gross rental income to $44.7 million after factoring in the REIT’s acquisitions of KDC SGP 5 and maincubes DC.

These were however partially offset by lower rental income received from KDC SGP 1 as well as lower overseas contributions arising from the depreciation of GBP, AUD and EUR against SGD.

At the same time, other income also grew 77.5% to $3.4 million compared to $1.9 million in the previous year due to higher rental top-up and higher ad-hoc service revenue.

Property operating expenses for 4Q18 was $5.6 million, 33.4% higher compared to $4.2 million a year ago. This was mainly attributed to the acquisitions of KDC SGP 5 as well as higher property-related expenses recorded at Gore Hill DC.

In all, Net Property Income for 4Q18 grew 30.1% to $42.5 million from $32.6 million previously.

Highlighting Keppel DC REIT’s established track record and enlarged portfolio of assets in key data centre hubs in Asia Pacific and Europe, the manager says it believes the REIT is well-placed to benefit from the expected growth of the data centre market.

It also intends to maintain its focused investment strategy to capture value and strengthen its presence across key data centre hubs.

Units in Keppel DC REIT closed 1 cent higher at $1.44 on Tuesday.