SINGAPORE - Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) reported on Tuesday (Oct 24) a 28 per cent fall in distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.69 Singapore cents for the third quarter from an adjusted 2.35 cents a year ago.

The Reit manager said the drop was mainly due to a one-off realised foreign exchange gain in the comparable period last year and the effects of a rights issue in March 2017 to fund acquisitions.

DPU for the three months to Sept 30, 2017, would increase by 1 per cent to 2.18 cents from 2.15 cents in the year-ago quarter if the one-off items and the effects of the rights issue were excluded.

DPU for the year to date fell 19 per cent to 5.04 cents from 6.22 cents. After adjusting for one-off items, rights
issue and equity placement, it rose 5 per cent to 5.92 cents from 5.66 cents.

For the third quarter, gross revenue rose 2 per cent to S$126.9 million. To date this year, revenue rose 4 per cent to S$361.8 million mainly due to additional revenue generated from the acquisitions of Citadines City Centre Frankfurt, Citadines Michel Hamburg and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York - Times Square South in 2017, Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel in 2016 as well as higher revenue from existing properties.

Revenue per available unit edged up 2 per cent to S$140.

Mr Bob Tan, chairman of Ascott Reit's manager, said: "We made S$655.4 million worth of acquisitions this year. These acquisitions further diversify our portfolio across geographies and strengthen Ascott Reit's position as the largest hospitality Reit with an asset size of S$5.1 billion.

He added that with sponsor, The Ascott Ltd, expanding its serviced residence portfolio globally, it will build a pipeline of properties for Ascott Reit.