ALog Trust posts H2 DPU of S$0.02464

ARA Logos Logistics Trust (ALog Trust) K2LU on Tuesday (Jan 25) posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of S$0.02464 for the second half ended Dec 31, 2021, compared with S$0.02927 in the year-ago period.

The lower DPU was due to an enlarged unit base following a fundraising exercise for the real estate investment trust's (Reit) maiden Australian portfolio acquisition from its sponsor, the Reit's manager said in a press statement.

ALog Trust's distribution income was also lower due to its manager having received its Q4 2021 base management fee and FY2021 performance entirely in cash instead of units. The payment was made in cash due to the ongoing merger with ESR-Reit and existence of a prescribed occurrence in an implementation agreement prohibiting such unit issuance.

Moreover, the distributable amount declared to unitholders in H2 2020 had included the release of S$2 million in distributable income previously retained in Q1 2020.

With these considerations in mind, the distributable amount declared to unitholders for H2 2021 is S$35.8 million, up 6.8 per cent from the $33.5 million declared in H2 2020.

Gross revenue for 6 months ended Dec 31, 2021, was 15.1 per cent higher at S$68.7 million for the half-year period, from S$59.6 million a year ago. Meanwhile, net property income (NPI) grew 16.1 per cent year on year to S$53.5 million from S$46.1 million.

ALog Trust will pay a distribution of S$0.01135 per unit for the Oct 1 to Dec 31, 2021 period on Feb 28, after books closure on Feb 7.

For the full year ended Dec 31, 2021, the Reit posted a DPU of S$0.05034, versus S$0.0525 in the year before. Distributable income declared was 19.6 per cent higher at S$70.4 million, while gross revenue was 15.2 per cent higher at S$135.2 million. NPI was 16.6 per cent higher at S$104.9 million.

The manager said the "steady performance" was mainly due to incremental contribution from the completed Australian portfolio acquisition in April 2021 and stronger overall portfolio performance. This was, however, partially offset by the divestments of Kidman Park in Australia and ALOG Changi DistriCentre 2 in Singapore.

As at Dec 31, 2021, the Reit's aggregate leverage stood at 39.5 per cent. It has a committed occupancy of 99 per cent with 203,956 square metres of leases successfully secured and renewed during the year. ALog Trust's portfolio weighted average lease expiry by gross rental income is also at 4.4 years.

Units of ALog Trust ended trading at S$0.87 on Wednesday, down S$0.005 or 0.57 per cent.