Stocks to watch: CDLHT, A-H Trust, CRCT, Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust

THE following stocks had announcements that could affect their trading activity on Friday:

CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) reported a 3.3 per cent increase in its distribution per stapled security (DPS) to 3.11 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016. Its gross revenue fell 3.6 per cent to S$48.33 million, weighed down by a weaker performance from the group's Singapore and Maldives properties, but this was offset by a revenue boost of S$2.8 million from Grand Millennium Auckland where the group benefited from a new lease structure.

Ascendas Hospitality Trust (A-H Trust) posted a 13.1 per cent jump in DPS to 1.64 Singapore cents for the third quarter, on the back of better performance of its portfolio of hotels in all markets except Singapore. Stronger Australian dollar and Japanese yen helped boost gross revenue and net property income for the quarter.

Business conditions in China took a toll on CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT) with its net property income for the full year dropping one per cent to S$139.7 million in Singdollar terms, dragging down distribution per unit (DPU) for the full year by 5.2 per cent to 10.05 cents.

Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (MGCCT) also saw its net property income for Q3 ended Dec 31, 2016, fall 1.5 per cent to S$71.4 million from the same period a year before. Gross revenue for the period went down by 0.5 per cent year on year to S$87.8 million, mainly due to the depreciation of the yuan against the Singdollar as well as from lower revenue from office property Gateway Plaza as a result of the implementation of value-added tax. Its DPU for the third quarter slipped 4.1 per cent to 1.778 cents from the same period a year earlier.