Stocks to watch: Ascott Reit, NetLink NBN Trust

ASCOTT Reit on Thursday reported a 0.29 cent decrease in its Q2 distribution per unit (DPU), as it was weighed down by one-off items, the effects of the rights issue and equity placement.

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the indirect wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited posted a Q2 DPU of 1.84 Singapore cents.

Distribution to unitholders for Q2 2017 increased by 34 per cent to S$46.9 million. Ascott said that this included a one-off realised exchange gain of S$11.9 million, which resulted from the repayment of foreign currency bank loans using the proceeds from Ascott Reit's rights issue and divestment proceeds.

Ascott's revenue for Q2 2017 stood at S$123.6 million, a 4 per cent increase from the year before. The increase was mainly due to the additional revenue of S$3 million from Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel and S$900,000 from Citadines City Centre Frankfurt and Citadines Michel Hamburg but was partially offset by a decrease in revenue of S$1.4 million from the divestment of 18 rental housing properties in Tokyo.

Ascott last traded at S$1.175 on Wednesday.

NETLINK NBN Trust made its debut on the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday, closing at its initial public offering (IPO) price of S$0.81 on the first day of trading.

Over 184 million shares worth S$149 million were traded.

From the opening bell at 3 pm, Net Link traded within the S$0.805 to S$0.815 range.

The closing price means that the trust is valued at S$3.1 billion, giving an annualised distribution yield of 5.43 per cent for the forecast period from Aug 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.

NetLink's IPO, which raised S$2.3 billion in gross proceeds, is the biggest in Singapore since 2011 when Hutchison Port Holdings Trust raised about S$7.7 billion in gross proceeds.