HOLDING up a sterling report on Thursday, Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) said its distribution per unit (DPU) for the third quarter ended Sept 30 rose 14 per cent from a year ago to 2.35 Singapore cents, the highest DPU recorded in the past three years.

Unitholders' distribution grew 21 per cent to S$38.7 million, the highest distribution recorded in a quarter since the Reit was launched 10 years ago.

This came on the back of realised exchange gain of S$3.3 million from the repayment of foreign currency bank loans with the divestment proceeds from Fortune Garden Apartments.

Thanks to the acquisitions undertaken in 2015 and this year, revenue rose 9 per cent to S$123.9 million and gross profit grew 4 per cent to S$57.5 million. Revenue per available unit (RevPAU) also inched up 2 per cent to S$144.

Ascott Reit is still keeping an eye on accretive acquisitions in gateway cities in markets such as Australia, Japan, Europe and the United States, said the Reit manager's chairman, Bob Tan.

"When our acquisition of Ascott Orchard Singapore is completed next year, our asset size will expand to S$5.3 billion," he said.

Ascott Reit is currently the largest hospitality Reit in Singapore with an asset size of about S$5 billion and a diversified portfolio across 38 cities and 14 countries.

Units of Ascott Reit closed unchanged at S$1.135 on Thursday before its earnings report.