Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust's H2 DPU up 2.8%

MALL and office landlord Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) posted a 2.8 per cent rise in distribution per unit (DPU) to S$0.03393 for the second half-year ended Mar 31, 2022, up from S$0.03299 a year earlier.

Gross revenue was up 4.9 per cent at S$211.2 million for the half-year period, from S$201.3 million a year earlier.

Net property income (NPI) grew 5.1 per cent to S$160.1 million for the half-year, from S$152.3 million. Distributable income rose 5.6 per cent to S$119.7 million, up from S$113.3 million a year earlier.

In its financial results released on Tuesday (Apr 19), MNACT's manager attributed the increase in gross revenue and NPI to lower rental reliefs granted to retail tenants at Festival Walk, a shopping mall located in Kowloon Tong district, Hong Kong. Rental reliefs in the H2 FY2022 stood at S$10 million, lower than the S$14.9 million a year earlier.

Contributions from Hewlett-Packard Japan Headquarters Building, which was acquired on Jun 18, 2021, and a stronger average rate of the Chinese yuan against the Singdollar also helped bolster gross revenue and NPI.

Still, the increase was partially offset by lower average rental rates at Festival Walk mall and Gateway Plaza, as well as lower average rates of the Hong Kong dollar and Japanese yen against the Singapore dollar.

Chief executive officer of MNACT's manager Cindy Chow said that it has seen a narrowing of Festival Walk's average retail rental reversion to negative 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY2022, compared to negative 32 per cent for the first 9 months of FY2022.

"With the easing of the restrictive measures to take effect from Apr 21, 2022 as announced by the authorities, we remain cautiously optimistic that as the impact of Covid-19 recedes, consumer sentiment would improve and our tenants could expect to see some return to normalcy in their businesses," she said.

For the full-year, MNACT posted a 10.4 per cent rise in FY2022 DPU to S$0.06819, up from S$0.06175. Gross revenue rose by 9 per cent to S$429.7 million, while NPI rose 10.2 per cent to S$321.9 million. Distributable income rose 13.8 per cent to S$239.2 million.

Books close on Apr 27, after which unitholders will receive a distribution of S$0.03393 per unit on May 19.

Units of MNACT closed up 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 at S$1.23 on Tuesday.