Sabana Reit's Q1 payout falls 22% on lease conversion

Sabana Sharifah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit) has reported a 22 per cent drop to 1.88 cents in distribution per unit (DPU) for the first quarter ended March 31.

This corresponds to an annualised distribution yield of 7.05 per cent, based on an annualised DPU of 7.62 Singapore cents and a closing price of $1.080 per unit on April 15.

Mr Kevin Xayaraj, chief executive officer and executive director of the reit manager said the fall was "reflective of more difficult and challenging market conditions".

Its results were hit by the conversion of four master-tenanted properties into multi-tenanted properties in fourth quarter of last year, which led to a significantly lower overall occupancy rate for its multi-tenanted properties.

Portfolio occupancy remains largely unchanged at 90.6 per cent, compared to 91.2 per cent in the prior quarter.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to intensify our marketing and leasing efforts to improve our portfolio occupancy," said Mr Xayaraj.

"In addition, we will look for opportunities to recycle our capital by divesting underperforming assets and use the sale proceeds to reinvest in new acquisitions, pare down our debt and distribute capital gains from divestments to our unitholders."

As at March 31, Sabana Reit's portfolio comprises 22 properties, spanning some 4.5 million square feet in gross floor area.

Total asset value stood at above $1.2 billion.

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