Frasers Hospitality Trust's Q4 DPU at 1.66 cents, tad lower than forecast of 1.68 cents

FRASERS Hospitality Trust (FHT) reported on Thursday a distribution per unit of 1.66 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Sept 30, 2015, compared to the forecast of 1.68 Singapore cents due to a higher proportion of fixed-rate borrowings during the quarter.

The DPU of 1.66 cents includes the 0.09 cent of advanced distribution paid on Sept 28, 2015. For the full year, DPU was 7.56 cents, 2.6 per cent higher than the forecast of 7.37 cents.

FHT - a stapled group comprising Frasers Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust and Frasers Hospitality Business Trust - said gross revenue (GR) for Q4 outperformed forecast by 1.5 per cent at S$30.8 million. Net property income (NPI) also exceeded expectations by 3 per cent at S$25.7 million, thanks to strong performances by the Japan, Australia and UK properties.

Its income available for distribution, however, was 1.9 per cent lower than forecast at S$22.5 million.

FHT said strong performance of the Japan, Australia and UK properties balanced the softer performance of the Singapore and Malaysia properties.

GR and NPI of the Singapore property portfolio were 12 per cent and 14 per cent lower than forecast respectively. While Fraser Suites Singapore performed in line with forecast from high occupancies achieved in the reporting quarter, InterContinental Singapore's performance was softer than forecast as more rooms were taken out of inventory than previously forecasted during the on-going renovation. Despite the renovation, InterContinental Singapore held up with high occupancies of close to 90 per cent based on available room inventory.

In Malaysia, the GR and NPI of The Westin Kuala Lumpur were 16 per cent and 18 per cent lower respectively compared to its forecast.

In Japan, the GR of the ANA Crowne Plaza in Kobe exceeded forecast by 14 per cent at 317.2 million yen (S$3.68 million). NPI was 17 per cent higher at 259.5 million yen.

The GR and NPI of the Australia properties in Sydney achieved A$8.2 million (S$8.17 million) and A$7.1 million, which were 22 per cent and 25 per cent respectively higher than forecast.

In the UK, strong occupancies from corporate and leisure travel at the six properties led overall GR and NPI to exceed forecast by 8 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.

During FY2015, FHT grew its portfolio from S$1.67 billion to S$1.96 billion with the acquisition of Sofitel Sydney Wentworth in July 2015.