SINGAPORE - Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (Cromwell E-Reit) on Thursday (Aug 8) morning posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.02 euro cents for its second quarter ended June 30, the same as a year ago.

Net property income (NPI) climbed 33.6 per cent to 27.7 million euros ($43.0 million) from the previous corresponding period, while gross revenue was also up by one-third to 42.4 million euros from 31.8 million euros a year ago.

This was largely thanks to contributions from the 22 properties acquired between December 2018 and February 2019.

Excluding contributions from these new properties, NPI for the Reit's light industrial and logistics portfolio for the first half of this year would be up 5 per cent compared to H1 2018.

Income available for distribution to unitholders for the quarter grew 30 per cent year on year to 22.4 million euros.

For the six months to June 30, income available for distribution rose 33.3 per cent to 44.8 million euros. The Reit manager intends to distribute 100 per cent of the distribution income until at least the end of 2019, which translates to a 2.04 euro cent DPU for the half year, up 3 per cent from 1.98 cents for the year-ago period.

Eligible unitholders received a cumulative distribution of 2.05 euro cents on July 31, comprising the 2.04 cent DPU for the half year and a 0.01 euro cent DPU for July 1, the day before new units were issued under an upsized private placement.

In a separate filing on Thursday, the manager also said it will sell a light industrial property in France known as Parc d'Osny for 19 million euros, to be paid fully in cash.

This will be Cromwell E-Reit's first divestment. The manager on Aug 7 signed the agreement to sell the property to Arc Eiffel Investissement.

The sale price of 19 million euros is 11.8 per cent above the price that the Reit paid for it during its IPO. It is also 13.1 per cent higher than the property's 16.8 million euro independent valuation by Colliers International Valuation UK as at June 30.

"The sale is in line with our strategy of disposing non-core assets and/or assets with risk-return profiles that no longer fit Cromwell E-Reit's hurdles. We will continue to look for opportunities to recycle capital to enhance Cromwell E-Reit's return on equity," said Simon Garing, chief executive of the manager.

The disposal of Parc d'Osny is expected to be completed by October this year.

Units of Cromwell E-Reit were trading down 0.5 euro cent to 48 cents as at 10.15am on Thursday, after the results were released.