SINGAPORE - Capitaland Commercial Trust (CCT) announced on Friday a 0.5 per cent rise to 2.19 Singapore cents in its distribution per unit (DPU) for the second quarter ended June 30 2015, from 2.18 cents for the year-ago quarter.

Income available for distribution for the quarter correspondingly edged up 0.5 per cent from a year ago to $64.43 million

Net property income rose 3.6 per cent to $53.86 million while gross revenue grew 5 per cent to $69.11 million for the quarter.

CCT said revenue rose due to rent increases or higher occupancy rates at its properties.

Its portfolio occupancy rate was 98 per cent in the second quarter. Its monthly average office portfolio gross rent has also gone up to $8.88 per square foot (psf) as at June 30 from $8.78 psf as at March 31, 2015.

Lynette Leong, chief executive officer of the trust's manager, said the trust's balance sheet remains robust with a gearing of 29.5 per cent and it has the financial flexibility for acquisitions, having a debt headroom of $1.3 billion assuming 40 per cent gearing.

"In anticipation of the relatively large new office supply in 2016 and 2017, we have been focusing our efforts on driving stable and sustainable financial performance. Since 2014, we have been actively reducing the amount of lease expiries in 2016 and 2017 as well as extracting operational efficiencies in property management."

"We are also exploring new, flexible alternatives of office space utilisation to generate new demand for the trust's space," she said.