Frasers Centrepoint Trust Q4 DPU slips 1.5% to 2.815 cents

FRASERS Centrepoint Trust (FCT) on Friday morning reported a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.815 Singapore cents for the three months ended Sept 30 (Q4 2016), marking a 1.5 per cent fall from last year's 2.859 cents.

The trust, which manages malls such as Causeway Point, Northpoint and Changi City Point, saw distribution to unitholders slip 1.2 per cent to S$25.9 million in Q4 2016, down from S$26.2 million.

Gross revenue for the quarter was 6 per cent lower than the previous year's, S$44.6 million vs S$47.5 million. While revenue contribution from Causeway Point (FCT's largest mall) was up 3.2 per cent in Q4 2016, Northpoint and Changi City Point contributed lower revenues due to asset enhancement initiative (AEI) works at Northpoint and vacancy from a changeover in an anchor tenant at Changi City Point.

Net property income declined slightly by 0.9 per cent to S$31.4 million for the quarter.

Chew Tuan Chiong, chief executive officer of Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management, FCT's manager, said: "Over the 10 years (of its listing on Singapore Exchange), FCT has maintained steady growth, stable performance and delivered higher DPU every year at a compounded annual growth rate of almost 7 per cent. The net asset value per unit this year has also hit a new high at S$1.93."

Dr Chew added that AEI and acquisition strategies will remain the key growth drivers for FCT, amid the weaker economic growth outlook and challenging retail space.