Ascendas Hospitality Trust's Q3 DPS up 11.5% at 1.45 cents

ASCENDAS Hospitality Trust on Thursday reported a distribution per stapled security (DPS) of 1.45 Singapore cents for Q3 FY2015/2016 ended Dec 31, 2015. This was up 11.5 per cent from 1.30 cents in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Gross revenue slid 9.5 per cent year on year to S$54.9 million, while net property income dropped 9.3 per cent to S$23.4 million.

This was mainly due to the loss of income from Pullman Cairns International which was divested in June 2015, and lower contribution from Pullman and Mercure Brisbane King George Square, due to the lack of large-scale events such as the G-20 summit held in the corresponding quarter last year.

The continual weakening of the Australian dollar against the Singapore dollar also played a part in lowering gross revenue and net property income for the quarter.

Income available for distribution rose 17.6 per cent to S$17 million.

Ascendas Hospitality pointed to Japan as a potential bright spot ahead, given the growing trend of foreign visitors to Japan.

CEO of the managers Tan Juay Hiang said: "Given the positive sector outlook in Japan in general, we believe that our hotels in Tokyo and Osaka respectively will perform better. In addition, the JPY1.1 billion renovation work on the hotel in Osaka, renamed as Hotel Sunroute Osaka Namba, has commenced and is expected to be completed by end of March 2016. We believe that following the renovation, the hotel's contribution to the portfolio will be enhanced."