Keppel Infra Trust's Q4 DPU flat at 0.93 Singapore cent

Singapore

KEPPEL Infrastructure Trust (KIT) on Tuesday reported a distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.93 Singapore cent for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, unchanged from the year-ago period.

Profit attributable to unitholders more than doubled to S$20.4 million in the quarter from S$9.6 million a year ago, mainly due to higher contributions from its portfolio company Basslink, which owns and operates the Basslink Interconnector between the states of Victoria and Tasmania.

Revenue for the quarter was up 8.9 per cent at S$172.2 million from S$158.1 million last year. KIT attributed the increase to higher revenue from City Gas, which produces and retails piped town gas, as well as the timing of a cumulative availability adjustment for Basslink's service outage between March 25 and June 5, 2018.

For 2018, total DPU was 3.72 Singapore cents. Profit attributable to unitholders decreased to S$32 million, down 32.7 per cent from S$47.6 million in 2017. KIT attributed the fall to lower contribution from City Gas due to a time lag in adjusting gas tariffs to reflect actual fuel costs, lower revenue due to Basslink's service outage and higher fair value loss of derivative financial instruments being recognised.

Revenue last year improved 0.8 per cent to S$637.4 million on City Gas' increased revenue from the higher tariffs, and lower fees due to Basslink's service outage.

KIT's net asset value decreased to 27.3 Singapore cents per unit as at Dec 31, 2018, down from 29.9 Singapore cents in the previous year. This was primarily attributable to distributions to unitholders, and partially offset by marked-to-market movements of derivative financial instruments and profit recognised for the period.

Units of KIT closed at S$0.515 on Tuesday before results were announced, down one Singapore cent or 1.91 per cent.