Ascott Residence Trust posts 2% dip in Q3 DPU

ASCOTT Residence Trust (ART) reported a 2 per cent year-on-year dip in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.07 Singapore cents for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015.

This came on the back of a one per cent drop in unitholders' distribution to S$32 million, which included a one-off item of about S$1.2 million relating to the interest cost incurred on the S$250 million perpetual securities issued in June this year for the period prior to utilisation of the proceeds in the third quarter to partially fund Ascott Reit's acquisitions in Australia and the United States.

Excluding the one-off item, the adjusted DPU would be 2.15 cents, which was 2 per cent higher than a year ago.

Revenue for the third quarter increased 21 per cent to S$113.2 million mainly due to the additional revenue of S$17.8 million from Ascott Reit's acquisitions in 2014 and 2015, as well as increase in revenue of S$1.7 million from the existing properties.

Ronald Tay, CEO of Ascott Residence Trust Management Limited, said: "In Q3 2015, several of our markets achieved strong operating performance. Japan, Belgium and Indonesia showed double-digit growth in RevPAU. In Japan, greater demand for our serviced residences from corporate and leisure travellers pushed revenue per available unit (RevPAU) up by 18 per cent. RevPAU for Belgium and Indonesia rose 15 per cent and 14 per cent respectively due to stronger corporate demand."

In the third quarter, ART completed half a billion dollars worth of acquisitions of six properties in Australia, Japan and the US, and the remaining stakes in two properties in Japan.