Ascott Reit's Q2 DPU falls to 1.84 Singapore cents

ASCOTT Reit reported on Thursday a 0.29 cent decrease in its Q2 distribution per unit (DPU), as it was weighed down by one-off items, the effects of the rights issue and equity placement.

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the indirect wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited posted a Q2 DPU of 1.84 Singapore cents. Its H1 DPU stood at 3.36 Singapore cents, down 0.52 Singapore cent from a year ago, as the contribution from Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel, on top of the one-off items, the effects of the rights issue and equity placement, caused the decrease.

Distribution to unitholders for Q2 2017 increased by 34 per cent to S$46.9 million. Ascott said that this included a one-off realised exchange gain of S$11.9 million, which resulted from the repayment of foreign currency bank loans using the proceeds from Ascott Reit's rights issue and divestment proceeds.

Distribution to unitholders for H1 2017 was S$72 million, up 15 per cent from H1 2016 while revenue for the first half of 2017 increased by 4 per cent to S$234.9 million.

Ascott's revenue for Q2 2017 stood at S$123.6 million, a 4 per cent increase from the year before. The increase was mainly due to the additional revenue of S$3 million from Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel and S$900,000 from Citadines City Centre Frankfurt and Citadines Michel Hamburg but was partially offset by a decrease in revenue of S$1.4 million from the divestment of 18 rental housing properties in Tokyo.

Ascott said that on a same-store basis (excluding the 2016 acquisition, 2017 acquisitions and the divestment), revenue increased by S$1.7 million mainly from Vietnam and the Philippines, partially offset by the decrease in revenue from Singapore and United Kingdom (arising from depreciation of the pound against the Singapore dollar).