LMIR Trust posts 27% jump in Q4 DPU to 0.71 cent

LIPPO Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIR Trust) said on Thursday that its distribution per unit (DPU) for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 rose 26.8 per cent from a year ago to 0.71 Singapore cent on the back of higher rental income from its malls in Indonesia.

This represents an annualised yield of 8.1 per cent, based on the closing price of 34 cents per unit on Dec 31, 2014.

Gross rental income for the quarter grew 9.3 per cent to 284 billion rupiah (S$30 million) and net property income increased by 5.5 per cent year on year to 310.3 billion rupiah.

Portfolio occupancy of its shopping malls remained high at 94.7 per cent.

LMIR Trust said that it would continue to explore its sponsor's (PT Lippo Karawaci Tbk) pipeline of quality assets in Indonesia, as well as opportunistic third-party acquisitions, to grow its portfolio in the coming years.

Alvin Cheng, chief executive officer of the Reit manager, noted that the general outlook for Indonesia's economy remained resilient, and also that the underlying business fundamentals remained stable.

"With the acquisition of Lippo Mall Kemang at the end of last year, we look forward to increasing portfolio revenue and distributions to unitholders in 2015," he added.

The book closure date for the Q4 distribution is Feb 24 and the tentative payment date is March 13.