Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust Q2 DPU down 2.4% to 1.765 cents

DISTRIBUTION per unit (DPU) for Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (MGCCT) for the second quarter, or the three months ended Sept 30, was down 2.4 per cent to 1.765 Singapore cents.

Together with its first-quarter DPU, a total of 3.610 cents will be distributed for the half-year, some 3.2 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.

Books closure date is on Nov 4, and unitholders can expect to receive the distribution on Nov 25.

For the second quarter, distributable income was down one per cent to S$49.1 million when compared to a year ago.

A change in property tax basis by the local authority came into effect on July 2016, therefore MGCCT had to pay an additional property tax of S$1.5 million for Gateway Plaza. Net property income was thus down 3.2 per cent to S$67.3 million in Q2. Cindy Chow, chief executive officer of MGCCT's manager noted that the acquisition of Sandhill Plaza and good performance at Festival Walk had lifted first-half performance, but the strengthening of the Singapore dollar against the Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan had eroded some of those gains.

MGCCT's counter closed 1.4 per cent, or 1.5 cents higher at S$1.090 on Thursday before results were out.