OUE Commercial Reit posts 34.5% rise in Q2 DPU to 0.78 S cent

OUE Commercial Reit on Wednesday posted a second-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.78 Singapore cent, up 34.5 per cent from a restated DPU of 0.58 cent in the same period a year earlier.

The restatement adjusts for the dilutive effects of a rights issue done in October last year. Without the restatement, second-quarter DPU fell 26.4 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Total income available for distribution rose 36.6 per cent from a year ago to S$22.5 million. 

Net property income in the three months ended June 30 rose 20.1 per cent to S$40.8 million, due mainly to the inclusion of OUE Downtown Office, which was acquired in November 2018. 

Committed portfolio occupancy was 94.5 per cent as at June 30.

The Reit manager said: "Although rental growth in the Singapore CBD Grade A office market has moderated, continued leasing momentum within OUE C-Reit's properties led to higher rents being achieved in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the previous quarter. OUE C-Reit's Singapore properties continued to record positive rental reversions for the lease renewals committed in the second quarter of 2019."

Distributions are paid out semi-annually, so a first-half DPU of 1.68 Singapore cents will be paid on Sept 12. This is 22.9 per cent lower than last year's first-half DPU of 2.18 Singapore cents. After adjusting the latter to take into account the 1.3 billion new rights units, it is 41.2 per cent higher.

Net asset value per unit was S$0.71 as at June 30, unchanged from December.

OUE C-Reit units closed flat at S$0.53 on Wednesday before the results were released.