Ascendas India Trust H2 DPU down 5% to 4.19 Singapore cents

ASCENDAS India Trust on Thursday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 4.19 Singapore cents for the second half of the fiscal year ended December 2020, some 5 per cent lower than 4.40 Singapore cents in the year-ago period.

This lifted the trust's FY 2020 DPU to 8.83 Singapore cents, 8 per cent higher than the DPU of 8.15 Singapore cents in 2019.

The trust's manager attributed the increase in distributions to a combination of a one-off reversal of dividend distribution tax provision, and higher interest income from its investments in forward purchases. The trust also noted that it had a private placement in November 2019.

The distribution will be paid out to unitholders on Feb 25.

Total property income for H2 fell 8 per cent to S$92.7 million from S$101.1 million in the year-ago period due to lower utilities and carpark income because of the Covid-19 lockdown in India. The decline was narrower in Indian rupee terms as the Singapore dollar had appreciated by about 4 per cent against the rupee over the same period last year.

Total property expenses slipped 28 per cent to S$18.3 million from S$25.5 million, mainly due to lower operation and maintenance expenses across the properties together with lower utilities expenses during the lockdown and reversal of expected credit loss.

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As a result, net property income for the period declined by 2 per cent to S$74.4 million.

Income available for distribution inched up 3 per cent to S$53.6 million from S$51.8 million in the corresponding period last year.

As at end-December, Ascendas India Trust's committed portfolio occupancy stood at 94 per cent. The weighted average lease term and weighted average lease expiry stood at 6.6 years and 3.5 years respectively.

The trust also had a gearing ratio of 30 per cent and had total debt headroom of S$1.08 billion at the end of FY 2020.

Commenting on the results, CEO of the manager Sanjeev Dasgupta noted that cost saving opportunities to the trust's tenants in India may be limited given the relatively low office rents, and the likelihood of infrastructure constraints and productivity losses increasing the costs of remote working.

Mr Dasgupta added that the trust will continue to pursue accretive opportunities to strengthen its portfolio diversification.

The trust also noted that construction activities for its existing projects have resumed from the pandemic-related disruptions and are in progress.

Units in Ascendas India Trust ended Thursday at S$1.55, down 3.7 per cent or S$0.06.