Keppel DC Reit’s Q3 DPU up 5% to S$0.02585
THE manager of data centre-focused Keppel DC Reit on Wednesday (Oct 26) announced a 5 per cent increase in distribution per unit (DPU) to S$0.02585 for the third quarter ended September, from S$0.02462 in the corresponding period a year ago.
Distributable income was 9 per cent higher at S$46.9 million, from S$43.1 million in Q3 last year.
The real estate investment trust (Reit) manager attributed the increase to contributions from new acquisitions and completed asset enhancement initiatives (AEIs), as well as renewals and income escalations, among others.
Q3 gross revenue rose 1.4 per cent to S$70.3 million, while net property income (NPI) was 0.5 per cent higher at S$64.1 million.
The increase in gross revenue was partially offset by net lower contributions from some of the Singapore colocation assets, the depreciation of the euro, Australian dollar and British pound against the Singapore dollar, and the divestment of iseek Data Centre.
Keppel DC Reit’s portfolio occupancy climbed 0.4 percentage point to 98.6 per cent as at Sep 30, with the weighted average lease expiry (WALE) extending to 8.7 years, from 7.6 years as at end June.
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Aggregate leverage rose 220 basis points (bps) from the previous quarter to 37.5 per cent as at end September, with an average cost of debt of 2.3 per cent.
The increase in borrowings was mainly due to the financing of the acquisition of Guangdong Data Centre 2 and the premises of Guangdong Data Centre 3.
The Reit manager said that 74 per cent of its loans were hedged to fixed interest rates. It added that a 100 bps increase in interest rates would have an impact of about 2.1 per cent to Q3 DPU on a pro forma basis.
On the impact of rising electricity prices, the Keppel DC Reit manager said “significantly above 90 per cent” of electricity costs are passed through to its colocation clients, while its master lease clients contract electricity directly with the power suppliers.
Units of Keppel DC Reit closed 4.8 per cent or S$0.08 higher at S$1.74 on Wednesday, before the results announcement.
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