Frasers Commercial Trust posts 33.4% rise in Q1 distributable income

Frasers Commercial Trust has chalked up a 33.4 per cent rise in first quarter distributable income to $13.7 million.

The trust delivered a 29.7 per cent growth in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.05 cents for the three months ended Dec 31.

Mr Low Chee Wah, chief executive officer of Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management (Commercial), which manages the trust, said the improved income was due to better performances of the Singapore properties, lower interest costs and savings in distribution for its Series A Convertible Perpetual Preferred Units (CPPU).

During the quarter, 11.1 million CPPUs were converted into ordinary units.

To-date, 99.9 per cent of the CPPUs have either been converted or redeemed.

This has led to savings in CPPU distributions, which boosted the DPU.

Gross revenue for the quarter declined by 3.1 per cent to $28.8 million, mainly due to the weaker Australian dollar and the slightly lower occupancy for Central Park.

This was off-set by the better performances of the Singapore properties which achieved higher gross revenue of 7.5 per cent.

Net property income eased by 3.5 per cent to $22.1 million.

The manager has introduced a distribution reinvestment plan which will be implemented for the distribution for the first quarter.

This allows unitholders to receive their distributions in cash, units or a combination of both.

Looking ahead, Mr Low noted that the trust's properties continue to record rental reversions and the new Telok Ayer Mass Rapid Transit on the Downtown Line which opened on Dec 22, 2013 will increase the connectivity to China Square Central and boost its attractiveness as an office accommodation.

"We will ride on this momentum whilst continuing our efforts to drive further growth for the trust," he said.

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