Mapletree Logistics Trust has reported a distribution per unit of 2.227 cents for its 3QFY2023 ended Dec 2022, up 1.9% over the year earlier quarter.
Net property income was up 7.3% y-o-y to $157.2 million; revenue was up 8% y-o-y to $180.2 million.
MLT attributes the higher earnings to accretive acquisitions completed from FY2022 to 1QFY2023, but with unfavourable currency movements offsetting some of the gain.
For 9MFY2023, dpu was up 7.3%.
As at December 31 2022, it has a portfolio of 186 properties in Singapore, Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam with assets under management of $12.6 billion.
“While MLT has delivered another set of resilient results, we are now facing the headwinds from high interest costs and forex volatility,” warns Ng Kiat, CEO of MLT’s manager.
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“We will continue to implement prudent risk management strategies to navigate these challenges.
“In line with our portfolio rejuvenation strategy, we are divesting three properties in Singapore and Malaysia, which will provide us with greater financial flexibility to pursue investment opportunities of modern, high-specs assets,” she says.
MLT says it has achieved average rental reversion of 2.9%, while portfolio occupancy increased to 96.9% from 96.4%.
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The weighted average lease expiry for the portfolio is approximately 3.2 years.
MLT says that the global economic outlook remains subdued amidst elevated inflation, rising interest rates and slowing growth.
Some 83% of its total debt had been hedged into fixed rates and 79% of income stream for the next 12 months had been hedged into Singapore Dollar. Through proactive hedging, the negative impact of rising borrowing costs and the strength of the Singapore Dollar on MLT’s financial performance will be partially mitigated.
As at Dec 31, MLT’s gearing stood at 37.4% with an average debt duration of 3.6 years.
MLT units closed at $1.61 on Jan 19, unchanged for the day, and down 9.55% over the past year.
