CapitaLand Mall Trust Q3 DPU up 9.6 per cent

CHEAPER utility bills and lower finance costs gave a boost to third-quarter earnings for mall owner CapitaLand Mall Trust.

Distribution per unit (DPU) for the three months ended Sept 30 jumped 9.6 per cent year-on-year to 2.98 Singapore cents, the real estate investment trust (Reit) said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday.

Its distributable income grew to S$103.2 million, 10.2 per cent higher than the previous year. The increase was mainly because Q3 distributable income included the release of S$8 million of taxable income retained in Q1 2015, the Reit said.

Gross revenue fell 1.8 per cent to S$161.7 million and net property income slipped 0.7 per cent to S$113.3 million.

The Reit manager's chief executive officer Wilson Tan said in a statement that portfolio occupancy remained high at 96.8 per cent as at Sept 30, despite ongoing refurbishment and reconfiguration works at some of its malls.