CLCT posts 30.4% increase in Q1 net property income to 344.5m yuan

CAPITALAND China Trust : AU8U 0% (CLCT) posted a 30.4 per cent rise in its net property income to 344.5 million yuan (S$72.2 million) for its first quarter ended March 2022, from 264.2 million yuan a year ago.

This was due to full contributions from its business parks portfolio as well as new contributions from its logistics parks portfolio, the manager of the real estate investment trust (Reit) said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (Apr 26).

Gross revenue was up 24 per cent to 489.9 million yuan for the quarter, from 395 million yuan the same period a year ago.

The manager noted that in the first quarter of 2021, the Reit only saw partial contribution from its business parks portfolio.

Exposure to its new economy assets – which include business parks and logistic parks – had risen to 21.9 per cent in Q1, with tenants from the new economy sector making up 50 per cent of its top 10 tenants by the quarter.

The Reit’s retail occupancy stood at 95.4 per cent, with shopper traffic down 7.1 per cent on year despite an 8 per cent on-year rise in sales per traffic. The manager noted that portfolio traffic had risen in January and February, but it was offset in March due to stringent Covid-19 measures.

Meanwhile, its business park occupancy was at 94.7 per cent, while logistics park occupancy stood at 97.6 per cent.

The manager also noted that 22.7 per cent of expiring net lettable assets for FY2022 has been completed by the quarter, of which the retail portfolio was completed ahead of schedule.

Moving forward, the manager expects the general leasing environment for its retail portfolio to remain cautious, while it should see steady leasing demand for its business parks amid positive business confidence and support from the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, it also expects new demand for its logistics parks from occupiers amid a growth in local consumption boosted by the pandemic.

Units of CLCT closed down S$0.02 or 1.7 per cent at S$1.18 on Monday.