CapitaMall Trust says it has achieved a 2Q 2010 distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.291 cents which is 7.5% higher than the DPU of 2.13 cents for the same period in 2009.
This brings CMT’s DPU to 4.521 cents for 1H 2010, exceeding the 1H 2009 DPU of 4.10 cents by 10.2%.
CapitaMall Trust says the better performance in 1H 2010 was driven mainly by higher rental rates for new and renewed leases and lower operating expenses.
Unitholders can expect to receive their 2Q 2010 DPU on Aug 27. The books closure date is on July 30.
Rental renewal rates in 1H 2010 registered positive growth of 6.3% over preceding rental rates. Gross revenue increased 2.8% year-on-year to $142.5 million in 2Q 2010 while net property income grew 5.3% over that of 2Q 2009. CMT’s portfolio occupancy continued to be strong at 99.5% as at 30 June 2010.
Following the completion of the refinancing of borrowings due in 2010, CMT’s average cost of debt and gearing ratio were 3.7% and 34.8% respectively as at 30 June 2010. Interest cover stood at 3.3 times.
On July 1, CMT completed its yield-accretive acquisition of Clarke Quay which was financed wholly by debt. With this completion, CMT now has 15 properties with an asset size of $8.0 billion as at 30 June 2010 — up from 14 properties with an asset size of $7.8 billion prior to the acquisition.
At Raffles City Singapore, a new Basement 2 link to the Esplanade MRT station (Circle Line) has commenced operations this month. The remaining asset enhancement works for Basement 1 are on schedule to be completed by end-2010.
To date, about 86.0% of the additional net lettable area created on Basement 1 and 2, has been committed. The project is now anticipated to increase NPI by $3.1 million4 per annum, instead of the original budgeted $2.7 million because of higher expected rental revenue. This translates to an ungeared return on investment (ROI) of 8.9%, up from the budgeted 8.0%.
