Manulife US Reit lowers Q4 DPU on enlarged unit base

MANULIFE US Real Estate Investment Trust's (Manulife US Reit) distribution per unit (DPU) fell 5.9 per cent to 1.44 US cents for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2019, from 1.53 cents a year ago.

This was mainly due to an enlarged unit base following a placement and preferential offering to partially fund its US$198.8 million acquisition of 400 Capitol Mall, it said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

Gross revenue increased 20.4 per cent to US$48.8 million for the quarter, from US$40.5 million on the back of contributions from the newly acquired Centerpointe and Capitol properties.

Net property income (NPI) grew 18.9 per cent on the year to US$30.3 million from US$25.5 million.

Distributable income for Q4 climbed 15.5 per cent year on year to US$22.6 million from US$19.6 million.

Unitholders will receive a total distribution of 1.45 US cents per unit on March 27, after books closure on Feb 13.

The 1.45 US cents comprise the Q4 DPU of 1.44 US cents as well as an additional 0.01 US cent for Sept 30, 2019. The 0.01 US cent is the balance remaining from the Q3 DPU.

Meanwhile, for fiscal 2019 ended Dec 31, DPU rose 7 per cent to 5.96 US cents from 5.57 US cents a year ago. Gross revenue jumped 23 per cent to US$177.9 million from US$144.6 million. NPI jumped 22.2 per cent to US$110.8 million from US$90.7 million.

Jill Smith, chief executive officer of the Reit's manager, said 2019 was Manulife US Reit's best year, and its acquisitions of four office properties in strong US growth markets in the past two years diversified the Reit's NPI and positively contributed to its growth.

Manulife US Reit units closed up US$0.04 or 3.9 per cent to US$1.07 on Tuesday.