Stocks to watch: Capitaland Retail China Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, GuocoLand, GL (Amended)

A mixed bag of quarterly earnings is likely to continue to set the tone for listless trading on Tuesday, even as Wall Street advanced overnight.

The bulk of earnings reports so far this week has come from real estate investment trusts and property counters.

CAPITALAND Retail China Trust (CRCT) posted a 10.6 per cent decline in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.36 Singapore cents due to the weaker yuan. Its net property income (NPI) grew 0.6 per cent to 161.28 million yuan and was impacted by a higher property tax provision of 11.2 million yuan made at the Beijing malls due to a change in property tax basis by the local tax authority with effect from July 1, 2016. In Singapore dollar terms, its NPI dropped 6.9 per cent to S$32.77 million because of the relatively weak yuan.

MAPLETREE Industrial Trust on Tuesday reported a 1.4 per cent increase in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.83 Singapore cents for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2016. Gross revenue rose 1.8 per cent to S$84.2 million due mainly to higher rental rates achieved across all property segments as well as higher occupancies achieved in its high-tech buildings, while net property income rose 4.3 per cent to S$63.6 million.

MAPLETREE Logistics Trust (MLT), which owns a suite of industrial properties across Asia, said that distributable income to unitholders for its second quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 was S$46.6 million, up one per cent from S$46.2 million a year ago. Distribution per unit (DPU) for the quarter stayed flat at 1.86 Singapore cents.

PROPERTY developer GuocoLand Limited reported on Monday night a 95 per cent slump in net profit to S$25.6 million for its first quarter ended Sept 30, mainly due to the lack of a one-time gain from the disposal of subsidiaries relating to the Dongzhimen project a year ago. Revenue was down 54 per cent to S$202.8 million given the absence of contribution from the sale of an office block in Shanghai Guoson Centre a year ago.

GL Limited, the former GuocoLeisure, said that net profit for its first quarter ended Sept 30 was US$11 million, down 65 per cent from US$31.4 million a year ago. Revenue was down 15 per cent to US$97.8 million from US$115.1 million a year ago. Lower revenue was mainly due to its hotel and gaming segments, and was also due to a weaker sterling.

Meanwhile, four counters have requested for a trading halt on Tuesday. They are Ezra Holdings, Nera Telecommunications, Starland and the latter's controlling shareholder GRP Limited. Ezra's informal meeting with bondholders is taking place this morning at 10am where it hopes to seek waivers on covenants tied to the trust deed of some S$150 million worth of 4.875 per cent notes maturing in April 2018.

Amendment: In the original story, we incorrectly reported a fall in NPI in renminbi terms for CRCT. The story is revised to reflect this.