First Reit DPU falls 65.1% to 0.65 S cent after new rights units issued

FIRST Real Estate Investment Trust (First Reit) saw first-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) fall to 0.65 Singapore cent, after issuing more than 791 million new rights units.

The DPU was 65.1 per cent lower than the year-ago payout of 1.86 cents. If not for the issuance of the new units in February, DPU would have slid 31.7 per cent to 1.27 cents.

That's as distributable income shrank by 30.5 per cent year on year, to S$10.37 million for the three months to March 31, according to a business update on Tuesday.

Net property income was lower by 33.9 per cent, at S$18.64 million, as overall income dropped by 33.0 per cent to S$19.35 million on restructured master lease agreements.

OUE-backed First Reit issued the new rights units in February as part of a S$158.2 million fund-raising exercise that went largely towards repaying part of the Reit's up to S$400 million in syndicated loan facilities.

The healthcare real estate investment trust has a portfolio of hospitals, mainly in Indonesia, although it also holds nursing homes in Singapore.

The manager said that it believes "healthcare being a robust and resilient sector will gradually recover", amid a Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and fiscal support in Indonesia.

The books close on May 18 and the DPU will be paid out on June 28.

Units last traded at S$0.27 on Tuesday, up by S$0.01 or 3.85 per cent, before the news.