CapitaLand Commercial Trust posts 2.4% rise in Q3 DPU

CAPITALAND Commercial Trust (CCT) on Wednesday reported a 2.4 per cent rise in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.14 Singapore cents for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015, on the back of higher rents.

Gross revenue rose 2.9 per cent to S$68.35 million, due to positive rent reversions for all buildings except Golden Shoe Car Park, which showed a marginal decrease.

Distributable income to unitholders in the third quarter rose 2.6 per cent to S$63.15 million as net property income increased by 1.5 per cent to S$52.67 million.

During the quarter, CCT signed about 226,000 square feet of new leases and renewals, of which 36 per cent are new leases.

Lynette Leong, CEO of CapitaLand Commercial Trust Management Limited, noted that CCT's portfolio occupancy of 96.4 per cent as at Sept 30 was above CBD Core market occupancy of 95.8 per cent. CCT's monthly average office portfolio gross rent also rose marginally to S$8.89 per square foot (psf) for the third quarter, up from S$8.88 psf at end-June.

"On executing our proactive leasing strategy, we continue to commit rents that are higher than the expiring rents for leases due in 2015, thereby generating positive rent reversions," Ms Leong said. "In anticipation of the new office supply expected in the second half of 2016, we have proactively implemented a well-spread portfolio lease expiry profile with major leases expiring in 2019 and beyond. Retention of strategic tenants and attracting new tenants to our portfolio of properties remain our priority."

As at Oct 27, CapitaGreen - CCT's joint-venture development with CapitaLand and Mitsubishi Estate Asia that opened on Sept 9 - saw committed occupancy of 87.7 per cent or about 616,600 sq ft of net lettable area (NLA). Most of the committed tenants are on leases longer than the usual three-year term, and 72 per cent of the committed NLA is taken up by tenants from three major industries, namely insurance, energy and commodities and IT, media and telecommunications.

CCT Group's portfolio as at Sept 30 consists of Capital Tower, Six Battery Road, One George Street, Raffles City Singapore (through CCT's 60 per cent interest in RCS Trust), CapitaGreen (through CCT's 40 per cent interest in MSO Trust), HSBC Building, Bugis Village, Golden Shoe Car Park, Wilkie Edge and Twenty Anson. CCT owns a 17.7 per cent stake in MRCB-Quill Reit, a commercial Reit listed in Malaysia.