The manager of Starhill Global REIT reported distribution per unit (DPU) for the 1HFY2020/2021 ended December of 1.88 cents, some 16.8% lower than DPU of 2.26 cents in the same period a year ago.
The DPU represents an annualised distribution yield of 7.41% based on the closing unit price of 50.5 cents as at Dec 31, 2020.
Income to be distributed to unitholders for the 1HFY2020/2021 fell 16.1% y-o-y to $41.4 million, after some $4.9 million has been retained by the manager for working capital purposes.
The income includes $3.1 million from the release of the $7.7 million of FY2019/2020 distributable income that was deferred under Covid-19 relief measures announced by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
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Gross revenue for the half-year period fell 8.6% y-o-y to $88.4 million while net property income (NPI) fell 12.3% y-o-y to $65.0 million.
The decline in both figures is due to the rental assistance rendered to eligible tenants. This includes allowance for rental arrears and rebates for its Singapore and Australia properties.
The lower sums were slightly offset by the appreciation of the AUD against the SGD and lower other operating expenses.
The REIT says it will be activating its maiden Distribution Reinvestment Plan (DRP) for the 1HFY2020/2021 distribution, where investors can reinvest their cash dividends into shares of the counter.
Starhill Global REIT’s Singapore portfolio contributed 62.4% of total revenue. NPI fell by 16.3% y-o-y to $42.1 million mainly due to rental assistance for its tenants.
Its Singapore retail portfolio registered occupancy of 96.1% as at Dec 31, 2020. Ngee Ann City reported full occupancy for the same period.
The REIT’s Singapore office portfolio saw occupancy of 89.5% as at Dec 31, 2020.
Wisma Atria is slated to welcome popular brands such as Unity Pharmacy, Yanmi Yogurt and Haidilao HotPot under its belt.
The REIT’s Australia portfolio contributed 24.6% towards total revenue. NPI fell 7.3% y-o-y to $12.4 million mainly due to lower contributions from the retail portfolio. This was partly offset by the appreciation of the AUD against the SGD.
Australia’s retail portfolio registered occupancy of 94.6% as at Dec 31, 2020.
In Malaysia, its portfolio contributed 10.4% to total revenue. The portfolio bucked the trend by reporting 1.1% higher NPI y-o-y.
The REIT’s China and Japan properties contributed 2.6% of total revenue, and saw a slight dip in NPI of 0.7% y-o-y.
Non property expenses grew 3.6% y-o-y to $30.5 million in 1HFY2020/2021 due to higher finance costs.
SEE: Starhill Global REIT prices $100 mil perpetual securities with 3.85% coupon under $2 bil multicurrency debt issuance programme
The group’s occupancy for its retail portfolio as a whole remained stable at 97.6% as at Dec 31, 2020 with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 5.4 years by gross rent.
Cash and cash equivalents as at Dec 31, 2020, stood at $119.6 million.
“We are encouraged by the improvement in tenants’ sales and shopper traffic at our malls while portfolio occupancy remains stable. We have been working with our tenants to help them ride through this difficult period, including the provision of targeted relief support which impacted the financial performance in 1HFY2020/2021,” says Ho Sing, CEO of the manager.
“While economic activities have gradually resumed, we continue to be cautious as travel restrictions and safe distancing measures remain in place, with recurring waves of infection in several countries. As part of our proactive capital management, we have recently issued our maiden perpetual securities and secured a five-year unsecured club loan facilities, which bolstered our financial position and liquidity,” Ho adds.
Unitholders will receive their DPU on March 25.
Units in Starhill Global REIT closed 1 cent lower or 1.9% down at 50.5 cents on Jan 28.
