EC World Reit Q4 DPU up 7.7% to S$0.01537

THE manager of EC World Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) has announced distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.537 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended December, up 7.7 per cent from a DPU of 1.427 cents in the year-ago period.

The gross revenue of the China-focused e-commerce logistics landlord grew 8.2 per cent to S$31.9 million in Q4, from S$29.5 million a year ago.

Its net property income (NPI) rose 5.9 per cent to S$28.8 million, from S$27.2 million a year ago.

The Reit manager said the increase in gross revenue and NPI were mainly due to positive straight-line adjustments and strengthening of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) by 4.4 per cent year on year.

Total amount available for distribution was 8.2 per cent higher at S$12.4 million. The Reit manager said it has resolved to distribute 100 per cent of this amount for Q4, and it will be paid out on or around March 31.

It, however, noted it will decide "at a later stage" if it will change the frequency of distributions given that its policy was to distribute on a semi-annual basis, but the Reit has been making distributions on a quarterly basis since its first distribution on Nov 28, 2016.

For the full year, the Reit posted a DPU of 6.263 cents, up 16.9 per cent from a year ago. This translates to a trading yield of 8.1 per cent, based on the closing price of S$0.77 per unit as of Dec 31, 2021.

The Reit manager said it has retained about 6.2 per cent of the total amount available for distribution for the financial year for general working capital purposes.

Gross revenue was up 14.4 per cent on the year to S$125.5 million, while NPI crept up 12.7 per cent to S$113 million.

Goh Toh Sim, executive director and chief executive of the manager, said the year's increase in gross revenue came on the back of strengthening RMB and absence of rental rebate provided in the year.

In RMB terms, the gross revenue and NPI were 9.8 per cent and 8.2 per cent higher respectively compared to FY2020, he noted. Asset portfolio performance "remains resilient" with occupancy at 99.2 per cent, he added.

Meanwhile, Goh stated that the manager has elected to make a voluntary one-off waiver of its entitled performance fee of about S$800,000, as he pointed out that the rental rebates provided in FY2020 resulted in a lower DPU for the last financial year.

Should the manager choose to collect its performance fee entitlement in full, the DPU would have been 6.217 cents instead of 6.263 cents for FY2021, he pointed out.

Units of EC World Reit closed flat at S$0.76 before the announcement.