Fortune Reit H1 DPU dips 0.8% to 26.13 HK cents
Annabeth Leow
Singapore
THE recent protests rocking Hong Kong are being watched for their impact on Fortune Real Estate Investment Trust malls, the Reit's Li Ka Shing-backed manager said.
The manager also addressed concerns over economic hits to the Chinese territory's shopping scene, saying that its malls "are private housing estate retail properties catering mainly for non-discretionary spending, and tend to be relatively resilient".
Fortune Reit, which has a secondary listing in Singapore, will pay out a distribution of 26.13 Hong Kong cents (4.57 Singapore cents) a unit for the six months to June 30 - down by 0.8 per cent.
Revenue dipped by 0.4 per cent to HK$974.3 million, attributed to the sale of Provident Square mall and renovation works at Fortune Kingswood in Tin Shui Wai. The HK$150 million upgrading project at Fortune Kingswood, which is the trust's largest asset by gross rentable area, began in June last year and is expected to finish by year-end.
Net property income was flat at HK$748.7 million, while distributable income ticked up by 0.1 per cent to HK$505.5 million.
The trust has a portfolio of 16 retail properties in Hong Kong, including 2,713 parking lots. The occupancy rate was 97.4 per cent, up from 93.1 per cent as at Dec 31, 2018. Gearing stood at 20.5 per cent, against 20.9 per cent as at end-2018.
Fortune Reit units, which will be delisted here in October, shed HK$0.04 to HK$10.46 on Friday.
