Far East Hospitality Trust reports 1.17-cent Q4 distribution

HOTEL and serviced residence owner Far East Hospitality Trust reported a distribution per stapled security of 1.17 Singapore cents for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015, down 8.6 per cent from 1.28 cents a year ago.

For the full year of 2015, distributions were 4.6 cents, down 10.5 per cent from 5.14 cents in 2014.

This gave a yield of 7.3 per cent based on Tuesday's closing price of 63 Singapore cents.

For the fourth quarter, revenue fell 4.7 per cent to S$28.9 million while net property income fell 4.9 per cent to S$26.3 million.

An uncertain global economic climate weighed on the demand for corporate travel, while the operating environment became more competitive with new hotel room supply, the trust said.

Revenue per available room of the hotel portfolio fell 4.4 per cent year-on-year to S$146, mainly due to a 7.6 per cent year-on-year decrease in the average daily rate.

The lower average daily rate was partially mitigated by a 2.9 percentage point year-on-year improvement in the average hotel occupancy to 85.3 per cent, the trust said.