CDL Hospitality Trusts Q4 DPS down 5.7% on rights issue; net property income up 7.8%

CDL Hospitality Trusts on Friday announced a drop in distribution per stapled security (DPS) of 5.7 per cent for the fourth quarter.

For the three months ended Dec 31, 2017, DPS declined to 2.83 Singapore cents from three Singapore cents in the year-ago period.

The group had in August last year completed a rights issue where 199.5 million new stapled securities were issued to raise gross proceeds of S$255.4 million. Excluding the effect of this rights issue, DPS for the fourth quarter would be 3.39 Singapore cents, an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year, the company said.

Taken together, total distribution to stapled security holders grew by 9.8 per cent to S$33.9 million for the fourth quarter, and 11.3 per cent to S$110.3 million for FY 2017.

For Q4 2017, net property income increased 7.8 per cent to S$40.6 million while revenue rose 14.3 per cent to S$55.2 million from last year. The improvement came as inorganic contribution from The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, United Kingdom, and Pullman Hotel Munich in Germany boosted portfolio performance.

Earnings per share for the fourth quarter stood at 6.07 Singapore cents, up from a loss per share of 1.17 Singapore cents a year ago.

In a pre-market statement on Friday, the group said its Singapore portfolio recorded "stable performance".

It added that the successful divestment of Mercure Brisbane and Ibis Brisbane this month enabled the group to unlock value for stapled securityholders.

Looking ahead, the group will continue to pursue suitable acquisitions and asset enhancement initiatives to diversify income sources and augment returns, it said.

CDL Hospitality Trusts is a stapled group comprising CDL Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust and CDL Hospitality Business Trust