Stocks In Focus SG (Aspial Corp, Frasers Commercial Trust, Sabana REIT) – 23/01/14

Aspial To Build Melbourne’s Tallest Skyscraper

• Aspial Corporation via its subsidiary, WCL-Southbank (Vic), agreed to acquire a freehold-tenure low-rise commercial building at 70 Southbank Boulevard and 115-131 City Road in Melbourne, Australia for a purchase consideration of A$42.3 million.

• The property with a land area of 2,625 square metres will be used for the development of two towers spanning 388 metres and 312 metres in height. The development is located in close vicinity to the central business district and the Yarra River, offering scenic views of the river and city.

• When completed, the development will be the tallest building in Melbourne yielding more than 1 million square feet of gross floor area.

Significance: Aspial intends to allow accessibility of the building’s topmost floor to the public, and the building is expected to be included in the list of iconic towers around the world such as Oriental Pearl Tower in China and Marina Bay Sands Skypark in Singapore.

Fraser Commercial Trust’s 1Q14 Distribution Per Unit Soars 29.7%

• Fraser Commercial Trust saw a marginal decline of net property income of 3.5 percent to $22.1 million in the quarter ended 31 December 2013, compared to $22.9 million in the corresponding period last year. This was mainly attributed to foreign exchange losses on the Australian dollar as well as lower occupancy rate in Central Park.

• In line with the weakening of the Australia dollar, the company recorded a slight decline of 1.7 percent to $6.6 million in property operating expenses

• Despite generating 57.2 percent lesser total return for the period on a year-on-year basis, distribution for unitholders merely declined by 8.6 percent to $13.7 million, compared to $15 million in 1Q13.

Significance: Notwithstanding the lower distribution for unitholders generated in 1Q14, however, distribution per unit for the quarter soared 30 percent to $0.025 due to savings in distribution for the Series A convertible perpetual preferred units.

Sabana REIT’s FY13 Distribution Per Unit Increases 1.1%

• For the year ended 31 December 2013, Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Real Estate Investment Trust‘s (Sabana REIT) net property income edged up 4.4 percent to $80.4 million from $76.9 million in FY12, on the back of increased gross revenue contribution through the property at 23 Serangoon North Avenue 5 and the acquisition of a new property at 508 Chai Chee Lane.

• In tandem with higher costs associated with various factors, property management, taxes and maintenance expenses as well as marketing and lease administration, property expenses in FY13 jumped 88.9 percent to $9.1 million, compared to $4.8 million last year.

• Fair value gains for the year shrank $13 million, led to a slight increase in distribution for unitholders of 4 percent (FY13: $61.7 million, FY12: $59.3 million).

Significance: The total distribution amount available for unitholders translates into a distribution per unit of $0.0938 in FY13, a marginal increase of 1.1 percent as compared to $0.0928 in FY12.

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