Mapletree Commercial Trust H2 DPU down 3% to S$0.0514

MAPLETREE Commercial Trust (MCT) : N2IU 0% on Wednesday (Apr 20) reported a 3.4 per cent decline in distribution per unit (DPU) to S$0.0514 for the half-year ended Mar 31, down from S$0.0532 a year earlier.

Gross revenue was down 1.8 per cent to S$255.8 million for the half-year period, from S$260.3 million the year prior.

The Reit’s manager noted that higher Covid-19 one-offs were recorded in H2 FY2021 and the full-year ended Mar 31. These one-offs were for the property tax rebate and government grant under the Job Support Scheme, with the 15 per cent property tax rebate having been disbursed in advance in FY2020.

Still, the chief executive of MCT’s manager Sharon Lim said that VivoCity tenant sales in the fourth quarter ended Mar 31 had picked up and recovered to pre-Covid levels. Tenant sales rebounded by 10.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, while tenant sales for the full-year improved by 15.6 per cent to S$804 million.

“With the decisive easing of Covid-19 measures announced by the government last month, we are confident that VivoCity will benefit further from the resumption of social activities, more employees returning to their workplaces, and the reopening of borders,” she said.

Net property income (NPI) fell 3.3 per cent for the half-year to S$198.8 million, from S$205.6 million. Distributable income fell 5.2 per cent to S$154.8 million, from S$163.3 million.

Unitholders will receive the distribution on June 3, after books close at 5 pm on Apr 28.

For the full-year period ended Mar 31, DPU rose 0.4 per cent to S$0.0953 from S$0.949 a year ago. Distributable income rose 5.1 per cent to S$301.2 million, while gross revenue rose 4.3 per cent to S$499.5 millon and NPI rose 3.1 per cent to S$388.7 million.

As at 31 Mar 2022, its average term to maturity was shorter at 3.3 years, while its aggregate leverage stood at 33.5 per cent.

Approximately 80.3 per cent of the Reit’s total debt of S$3.01 billion was fixed by way of fixed rate debt or interest rate swaps. As at Mar 31, 2022, the weighted all-in cost of debt was 2.4 per cent per annum and the interest coverage ratio was approximately 4.8 times.

Units of MCT closed up 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 at S$1.87 on Wednesday before the results were released.