CapitaMall Trust Q4 DPU up 5.1% to 2.86 cents

CAPITAMALL Trust, the largest listed mall owner in Singapore, reported a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.86 cents for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014, 5.1 per cent higher than 2.72 cents a year ago.

For the full year, DPU of 10.84 cents was 5.6 per cent higher than 10.27 cents a year ago, and translates into a yield of 4.9 per cent based on its S$2.21 closing price on Thursday.

Fourth-quarter revenue at the real estate investment trust (Reit) increased 2.2 per cent to S$165.2 million from S$161.6 million.

However, net property income fell 4.1 per cent from S$110.5 million to S$106 million, due to higher property operating expenses.

For its joint ventures, which comprise a partial interest in Raffles City and Westgate malls, fourth-quarter revenue rose 22.8 per cent to S$29.6 million and net property income rose 37.5 per cent to S$20.5 million. This was due to the start of operations of Westgate from Dec 2, 2013.

Share of results from the joint ventures doubled to S$70 million due mainly to profit from sale of office strata units in Westgate Tower.

Occupancies remained high, at 98.8 per cent for the entire portfolio in 2014, up from 98.5 per cent in 2013.

Segmentally, most malls recorded increases in total revenue and net property income for 2014. The exception was Jurong East's JCube, where revenue fell 5.3 per cent to S$32 million due to renovation works. Net property income there fell 28.2 per cent to S$15.9 million for the year.

Net asset value per unit rose to S$1.81 at end-2014, up from S$1.79 in end-September 2014.

This works out to a price-to-book ratio of 1.22 times.