Keppel REIT reported on Wednesday that its first quarter net property income edged up 0.3 percent on-year to S$31.31 million, mainly on higher one-off income, partly offset by lower contributions from Ocean Financial Centre after the divestment of a 20 percent stake in December and from Bugis Junction Towers.
In addition, while operating performances at Australian properties 275 George Street and 8 Exhibition Street improved on-year, a weaker Australian dollar contributed to a decline in net property income from those assets to fall, Keppel REIT said.
Property income, or revenue, for the quarter ended 31 March was S$40.02 million, up 0.7 percent on-year, the REIT said in a filing to SGX after the market close on Tuesday.
The DPU for the quarter was 1.39 Singapore cents, down 2.1 percent on-year from 1.42 Singapore cents in the year-ago period, the filing said.
The results were relatively in line with a forecast from Daiwa, although the distribution per unit (DPU) beat the investment bank’s forecast; the REIT included a distribution of S$3 million of capital gains in the DPU.
Daiwa had forecast net property income of S$31.4 million, revenue of S$39.0 million and DPU of 1.37 Singapore cents.
In the first quarter, average signing rent for Keppel REIT’s Singapore office leases was around S$12.03 per square foot, above the Grade-A central business district average of S$11.15, according to CBRE data, the filing said. The portfolio occupancy was at 98.7 percent in the first quarter, it said.
Follow Shenton Wire on Telegram
