SINGAPORE - Higher occupancy for Bugis Junction and The Atrium@Orchard gave a fillip to results for retail owner CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) for its fourth quarter.

Distribution per unit edged up 0.7 per cent to 2.9 Singapore cents from 2.88 Singapore cents for the previous year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Wednesday morning (Jan 24).

That came as the quarter's income available for distribution crept up 0.8 per cent to S$102.9 million from the year-ago period.

For the fourth-quarter ended Dec 31, CMT released S$7.6 million of its taxable income available for distribution retained in the first half of fiscal 2017 to unitholders.

Advanced distribution comprising tax-exempt income of S$4.8 million received from CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT) between July 1, 2017 and Dec 6, 2017 had been retained for general corporate and working capital purposes, it added.

For the quarter, gross revenue rose 1.8 per cent to S$172.4 million from the preceding year. Net property income increased 2.6 per cent to S$119.3 million from the previous year.

The increase in net property income was partially offset by lower gross revenue from Bedok Mall due to lower rental rates achieved for new and renewed leases and lower occupancy, the trust manager said.

Tony Tan, chief executive officer of CMT's manager added: "Our portfolio of malls continued to be popular with retailers, registering a high occupancy of 99.2 per cent as at Dec 31."

Richard Magnus, chairman of CMT's manager, said: "CMT has delivered another set of stable results in 2017, despite the challenges facing the retail industry. This points to the underlying strength of our well-located malls, and the management's continuous focus on enhancing our mall's offering as well as improving on operational efficiency."

CMT's other properties include Plaza Singapura and IMM Building.

Its units ended S$0.02 or one per cent lower at S$2.05 on Tuesday.