Parkway Life Reit Q4 DPU rises 2% to 3.34 S cents

PARKWAY Life Real Estate Investment Trust (PLife Reit) on Wednesday posted a 2 per cent rise in distribution per unit (DPU) to 3.34 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2019, up from 3.28 Singapore cents a year ago. 

The increase was led by contribution from three Japan properties that the group acquired in December 2019, rental growth of existing properties, as well as cost savings from refinancing initiatives completed in 2018 and 2019, said PLife Reit's manager.

Meanwhile, gross revenue for Q4 fell 1.9 per cent to S$28 million, from S$28.6 million last year. This was due to a one-time reclassification of insurance reimbursement received during the year to property expenses.

Excluding the one-off reclassification, Q4 revenue would have grown by 2.4 per cent over the same period last year. 

As a result of this reclassification, property expenses were lower as compared to the year-ago quarter. 

That said, the reclassification had no impact to PLife Reit's net property income (NPI), which was up 2.3 per cent to S$27.3 million, from S$26.7 million in the year ago period. 

Total distributable income to unitholders rose 2 per cent to S$20.2 million for the quarter. This distribution will be paid out on Feb 26, after books closure at 5pm on Jan 31. 

For the full year ended Dec 31, Parkway Life Reit's DPU rose 2.5 per cent to 13.19 Singapore cents, up from 12.87 Singapore cents in the preceding year, while NPI came in at S$108.2 million, up 2.7 per cent.