Ascendas India Trust Q4 DPU increases 8% to 1.65 cents

POSITIVE rental reversions and additional income from assets lifted results for IT park owner Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) in its fourth quarter.

Distribution per unit (DPU) for the quarter edged up 8 per cent from 1.54 Singapore cents in the previous year to 1.65 Singapore cents.

That came as Q4 income available for distribution increased 13.8 per cent from S$15.9 million in the year ago period to S$18.1 million.

For the three months ended March 31, total property income rose 11.7 per cent to S$49.3 million and net property income expanded 15.4 per cent to S$33.5 million from the preceding year.

For the full year, net property income jumped 22.9 per cent to S$128.1 million as gross revenue increased 20.1 per cent to S$188.2 million and income available for distribution rose 9.4 per cent to S$64.2 million.

DPU for the full year is 6.1 Singapore cents.

As at March 2018, a-iTrust's total portfolio floor area stood at 12.8 million square feet, a 15 per cent increase compared to a year ago.

This includes new properties such as the BlueRidge 2 in Pune; Atria at The V in Hyderabad and the Arshiya Warehouses near Mumbai, which the trust acquired in February 2018.

Said Sanjeev Dasgupta, chief executive officer of a-iTrust: "With a total development potential of 5.4 million square feet from our land bank, inclusive of the planned redevelopment of The V in Hyderabad, and our pipeline of acquisitions, the trust is well-positioned to scale up further in the coming years."

a-iTrust units closed S$0.010 or -0.98 per cent lower at S$1.01 on Wednesday.