Frasers Property can do more to unlock value, such as distribute FCT units

FOR the financial year ended Sep 30, 2021 (FY21), (FPL) posted S$833.1 million in attributable profit. This was a significant increase from the S$188.1 million reported in FY20. 

But FPL’s shareholders had little to cheer from the better financial performance.  The dividend per share for FY21 of 2 Singapore cents was up from 1.5 Singapore cents for FY20. But it is still much lower than the 8.6 Singapore cents for each of FY17 and FY18, and 6 Singapore cents for FY19.

FPL’s profit for FY21 was boosted by a one-time non-cash accounting gain from the change in use of a portfolio of industrial and logistics properties. The payout ratio excluding this one-time accounting gain is around 53 per cent.