CapitaLand Ascendas REIT posts 3.5% higher DPU for FY2022, occupancy hits 10-year high

By Jovi Ho

/ The Edge Singapore |

February 2, 2023 7:38 PM SGT

The REIT's DPU for 2HFY2022 rose by 4.3% y-o-y to 7.925 cents. Photo: CLAR

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SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR) has posted 3.5% higher y-o-y distribution per unit (DPU) to 15.798 cents, underpinned by portfolio occupancy reaching a 10-year high of 94.6% in FY20222 ended December.

The REIT's DPU for 2HFY2022 rose by 4.3% y-o-y to 7.925 cents.

Gross revenue for FY2022 rose by 10.3% y-o-y to $1.35 billion. Net property income (NPI) rose by 5.2% y-o-y to $968.8 million.

The total amount available for distribution rose 5.4% y-o-y to $663.9 million.

CLAR completed $223.4 million of acquisitions in 2022. The funds were deployed into three acquisitions in the US and Australia logistics sector.

In Australia, two newly developed logistics properties, 500 Green Road ($69.1 million) located in Brisbane, and 7 Kiora Crescent ($21.1 million) located in Sydney, were acquired in February 2022. In the US, seven last-mile logistics properties located in Chicago were acquired for $133.2 million in June 2022.

As of Dec 31, 2022, CLAR’s $16.4 billion portfolio had a customer base of more than 1,720 tenants. The portfolio is diversified across Singapore (62%), the US (15%), Australia (14%) and the UK/Europe (9%).

CLAR’s 227 investment properties span three key segments: Business Space and Life Sciences (48%), Logistics (25%) and Industrial and Data Centres (27%).

CLAR achieved positive rental reversion of 8.0% for leases renewed in multi-tenant buildings during 2022.

The portfolio’s weighted average lease expiry (WALE) period stood at 3.8 years and about 21.0% of CLAR’s gross rental income will be due for renewal in FY2023.

As of Dec 31, 2022, aggregate leverage held steady at 36.3% from 35.9% this time last year.

With 79% of borrowings on fixed rate, CLAR’s weighted average all-in cost of borrowing increased to 2.5% in FY2022 from 2.2% in FY2021 despite a sharper increase in interest rates globally.

William Tay, CEO and executive director of the manager, says: “We achieved strong results across all our asset classes despite the uncertain macroeconomic conditions… Moving forward, we will continue to leverage on our strong financial position, operational capabilities and diversified portfolio to safeguard and expand our business, while adopting a cautious approach amidst the ongoing uncertainties in the global economy and the interest rate environment.”

Units in CLAR closed 4 cents higher, or 1.38% up, at $2.94 on Feb 2.

This article first appeared on The Edge Singapore.

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