SINGAPORE - Mainboard-listed CapitaCommercial Trust announced on Wednesday (Jan 21) an estimated distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.15 cents for the fourth quarter of its 2014 financial year, an increase of 2.9 per cent over the same period a year ago.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014, the estimated DPU rose 3.9 per cent to 8.46 cents. The increase in DPU occurred despite the enlarged base of CCT units due to the partial conversion of CCT's convertible bonds due in 2015 and the absence of yield protection income for One George Street. Based on CCT's closing price per unit of $1.835 on Jan 20, 2015, CCT's distribution yield is 4.6 per cent.
The Trust's distributable income of $249.2 million in FY2014 was 6.4 per cent higher than the $234.2 million achieved in FY2013. This was largely due to higher net property income (NPI) and lower interest expense for CCT's wholly-owned properties, and higher distributable income from RCS Trust and Quill Capita Trust. The Q4 2014 distributable income of $63.6 million registered a year-on-year increase of 5.7 per cent.
CCT's first development project, CapitaGreen, a Grade A office building at 138 Market Street developed jointly with CapitaLand and Mitsubishi Estate Asia, obtained its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) on Dec 18, 2014. As at Dec 31, 2014, CapitaGreen has secured leases for 486,800 sq ft, or 69.3 per cent of its net lettable area.
CCT said its portfolio committed occupancy rate, including that of CapitaGreen, is 96.8 per cent, above the market occupancy of 95.7 per cent in Q4 2014. It said its portfolio high tenant retention rate of 86 per cent in 2014 also underpinned the strong portfolio occupancy rate.
Monthly average office rent for CCT's office portfolio increased by 5.9 per cent from $8.13 per sq ft (psf) at end 2013 to S$8.61psf at end 2014.
Lookig ahead, the Trust said that given the limited new office supply in 2015, the office market rent is expected to continue to rise in 2015. This will enable CCT to capture higher rents for the leases due for renewal as well as new leases to be committed in 2015.
