First Reit to give another two months of rental relief for its tenants in Indonesia

FIRST Reit's manager will be extending a further two months of rental relief - for September and October - to all its tenants in Indonesia, a sum amounting to S$18.9 million, it said in a filing on Thursday evening.

This comes on top of the rental relief for the months of May and June.

Covid-19 cases in Indonesia are continuing to escalate; the country recorded its highest number of monthly cases last month, and the figure was itself a 69 per cent rise from the previous month, said the manager.

The virus has spread to all 34 provinces in the country, with new hotspots emerging in a number of provinces.

The local government of DKI Jakarta (the Special Capital City Region) re-imposed a partial lockdown, entailing large-scale social restrictions, from Sept 14 till Oct 11. This was then extended by a transitional large-scale social restrictions, in effect from Oct 12 till Oct 25.

The manager of First Reit said that amid the prolonged challenging operating environment in Indonesia, the extended rental relief is intended to tide its tenants in Indonesia through the second half of the year.

With the provision of this help line, First Reit's available distribution income to unitholders for the six months ending Dec 31, 2020 is expected to decline by between 40 per cent and 50 per cent. Available distribution income to unitholders in the previous year was S$34.3 million.

First Reit's distribution per unit for H2 2020 is also expected to decline by 40 to 50 per cent from 4.30 cents recorded in H2 2019.

Units of First Reit fell 0.5 Singapore cents to close at 41.5 Singapore cents on Thursday, prior to the announcement.

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