Its manager says the rise in shopper traffic and tenant sales comes from active asset and property management, and government support for spending
THE manager of Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) on Wednesday (Jul 24) announced that its committed occupancy for its retail portfolio grew 1 percentage point year on year to 99.7 in the third quarter ended Jun 30.
All its retail malls now have more than 99 per cent committed occupancy.
The asset enhancement initiative at its Tampines 1 mall is on track to be done by September, with 100 per cent committed occupancy; its projected return on investment is expected to outperform its 8 per cent target, the manager added.
For its portfolio as a whole, it added that the healthy sales for its tenants and improved shopper traffic came about from “active asset and property management”. Portfolio shopper traffic in Q3 was up 4.1 per cent on year, and portfolio tenants’ sales grew 0.7 per cent.
Financial year-to-date sales were 20 per cent above pre-Covid 2019 levels, it added.
The manager also acknowledged the role of government support: Besides the payouts from the Assurance Package and Cost-of-Living Support Package totalling more than S$10 billion, the CDC and Climate vouchers for spending on essentials benefited the bulk of mass-market consumers, potentially supporting their spending at FCT’s malls.
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FCT’s manager added that it has continued to curate and refresh its retail offerings. It also pointed to its malls being “central nodes” in their respective communities, with the malls running programmes to engage shoppers and build their loyalty.
The trust has a well-spread lease maturity profile, its manager said. Its weighted average lease expiry as at Jun 30 was 1.97 years by net leasable area, and 1.88 years by gross rental income.
FCT’s average debt maturity, at 2.78 years as at Jun 30, was slightly lower than the 3.05 years in the previous quarter. Its gearing levels stood at 39.1 per cent in Q3, up from 38.5 per cent in the preceding quarter, but down from 40.2 per cent in the year-ago period.
The manager said that FCT is well-positioned for sustainable growth. It plans to announce an upcoming AEI project “in due course” to drive enhancement growth.
Units of Frasers Centrepoint Trust ended Wednesday down 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 at S$2.19.
