Ascendas Hospitality Trust Q2 DPS up 2.8%

Singapore

ASCENDAS Hospitality Trust (A H-Trust) on Wednesday posted a 2.8 per cent rise in second quarter distribution per stapled security (DPS) to 1.46 Singapore cents from 1.42 cents previously.

Income available for distribution, less the income retained for working capital, for the three months ended Sept 30 edged up 3 per cent to S$16.6 million. The increase came on the back of savings in net finance costs and partial distribution of the proceeds from the divestment of two hotels in Beijing.

Gross revenue and net property income took a dip due to lower contribution from the Australian portfolio and absence of earnings from the China portfolio, exacerbated by a 6.8 per cent depreciation of the Australian dollar against the Singapore dollar.

Gross revenue was down 11.9 per cent year-on-year to S$46.4 million, while net property income slid 7.5 per cent to S$20.5 million. Room revenue for the Australia portfolio dipped, with revenue per available room decreasing 4.7 per cent.

For the half year, DPS rose 2.9 per cent to 2.81 Singapore cents. After deducting income retained for working capital, income available for distribution was S$31.9 million, up 3.4 per cent. Gross revenue decreased 9.3 per cent to S$91.3 million while net property income fell 6.9 per cent to S$39.2 million.

A H-Trust expects market conditions in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to remain challenging in the near term but remains positive on the longer term prospects.

Tan Huay Jiang, chief executive of the trust manager, said the diversity of the overall portfolio will benefit A H-Trust as its hotels in Singapore and Seoul are expected to gain from the recovering hotel markets.

Separately, A H-Trust said that its chief financial officer Lim San San Susanna will be relinquishing her current appointment to take up another executive position within the Ascendas-Singbridge Group, following a group reorganisation. Woo Yeng Yeng, who is currently vice-president of corporate finance for Ascendas-Singbridge, will succeed Ms Lim.

The counter closed at 79 Singapore cents before results were out, up 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.637 per cent.