SINGAPORE - A private placement of units and a recent rights issue combined to put a dent in the fourth-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) of AIMS AMP Capital Industrial Reit.

Its DPU for the three months ended Mar 31 stood at 2.51 cents, a 20.1 per cent fall compared with the same period a year ago.

This was despite gross revenue rising 23.8 per cent to $29.5 million in the period, while net property income gained 24.1 per cent to $19.3 million.

Distributable income to unitholders increased 10.5 per cent to $15.6 million.

The Reit said the higher gross revenue was achieved mainly due to contributions of rental income from its Gul Way property, higher rental rates from its Penjuru Lane property and higher occupancy of its Serangoon North property.

Alongside the increase in gross revenue, property operating expenses also jumped 23.1 per cent to $10.2 million.

Borrowing costs climbed 15.6 per cent to $4.5 million, while the manager's management fees went up by 24.7 per cent to $1.6 million.

The Reit said borrowing costs were hiked due largely to the additional interest expense of $1.4 million incurred on its Australian dollar borrowing to fund the acquisition of its 49 per cent interest in Optus Centre in Australia.

Its manager's management fees were also higher as a result of the net increase in the size of the group's portfolio. No performance fee is payable to the manager for the financial year 2014.

The Reit's DPU for the year was 10.53 cents, 1.8 per cent lower than the previous year, though overall distribution to unitholders went up 19 per cent to $57.2 million.

The DPU was lower due largely to the increase in units arising from the private placement of 68.75 million units in May last year and the recent issuance of 92.5 million units in a rights issue in March this year.