Ascendas India Trust H1 DPU up 2% on the back of new tech park leases
Sharanya Pillai
ASCENDAS India Trust (a-iTrust) on Monday (Aug 1) posted a S$0.0428 distribution per unit (DPU) for H1 ended June, up 2 per cent from the previous year, thanks to an increase in occupancy in major tech parks.
Total property income for the half-year came in at S$103.3 million, up 8 per cent year on year. This was driven by contributions from the aVance 6 building in Hyderabad, Building Q1 in Aurum Q Parc, Arshiya Warehouse 7, and the industrial facility in Mahindra World City, Chennai. a-iTrust also enjoyed higher utilities and car park income.
The trust’s portfolio occupancy increased to 90 per cent, backed by significant leases signed in International Tech Park Chennai (ITPC) and International Tech Park Bangalore (ITPB). This added “quality” tenants, said Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO of the trustee-manager.
“ITPC saw the largest recovery in occupancy from 65 per cent in December 2021 to 83 per cent in June 2022; while in ITPB, occupancy increased from 91 per cent to 95 per cent during the same period. As India resumes normalcy, we are witnessing an increase in physical park population across our parks with 36 per cent of the park population back to office as at end-June,” he said.
However, total property expenses increased by 10 per cent to S$19.9 million, due to higher operational and maintenance expenses. This translated to an 8 per cent rise in net property income to S$83.4 million, and a 3 per cent increase in income to be distributed to S$49.6 million.
Leasing and renewal volumes for H1 came in at about 1.3 million square feet. Dasgupta expects leasing momentum to further improve in H2. As at end-June, a-iTrust’s portfolio comprises of 15.5 million square feet (sq ft) of completed properties and land bank with total development potential of 8.5 million sq ft. It expects phase 1 of International Tech Park Hyderabad’s redevelopment to be completed by Q4.
a-iTrust closed at S$1.16 on Friday, down 0.9 per cent or S$0.01.
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