SINGAPORE - Croesus Retail Trust (CRT) achieved a 15.2 per cent rise in distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.05 Singapore cents for its third quarter ended March 31, from 1.78 cents in the corresponding year-ago period.

The year-ago results were restated to reflect the effect of 27,682,070 units issued following a preferential offering on Aug 25 last year.

For the quarter, revenue grew 22.4 per cent year-on-year to 3.02 billion yen (S$37.35 million), mainly due to CRT's enlarged portfolio of income-producing properties with the acquisition of Fuji Grand Natalie on April 18, 2016, and Mallage Saga and Feeeal Asahikawa on May 27, 2016, coupled with higher variable rent from better tenant sales in Mallage Shobu and compensation from a tenant for early termination in Croesus Tachikawa.

Accordingly, net property income for the quarter rose 14.4 per cent year-on-year to 1.61 billion yen.

To mitigate its foreign currency exposure, CRT has hedged close to 100 per cent of its expected distributable income up to June 2019.

As at March 31, 2017, CRT's portfolio has an occupancy rate of 97.7 per cent and an weighted average lease expiry of 6.5 years.

Said Mr Jim Chang, chief executive officer and executive director of the trustee-manager, said, "We are pleased to deliver yet another robust set of financial results for CRT. This further attests to CRT's ability to grow and manage its property portfolio to enhance distributions for unitholders. We intend to build on our successes and will continue to explore various organic and inorganic opportunities to raise CRT's value."

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, CRT's properties are expected to continue generating robust and stable cash flows over the next 12 months, said the trustee-manager.