CAPITALAND Ascott Trust (Clas) on Monday (Jan 27) posted a 7 per cent fall in distribution per stapled security (DPS) to S$0.0355 for the second half (H2) ended Dec 31, 2024, from S$0.038 in the year-ago period.
Core DPS grew 3 per cent on year to S$0.0308 from S$0.03, after excluding non-periodic items related to realised exchange gains arising from the settlement of cross-currency interest rate swaps and the repayment of foreign currency bank loans and medium term notes.
The manager attributed this to stronger operating performance, acquisitions and completed asset enhancement initiatives (AEI), which mitigated the impact of divestments, ongoing AEIs, higher financing costs, as well as the depreciation of most foreign currencies against the Singapore dollar.
This brings DPS for FY2024 to S$0.061, down 7 per cent year on year. After adjusting for non-periodic items, core DPS stood at S$0.0549, up 1 per cent from S$0.0544 recorded in the same period the year before.
The distribution for H2 will be paid out on Feb 28, after the record date on Feb 6.
Clas’ total distribution for H2 was down 4 per cent to S$134.8 million from S$140.8 million in the same period the previous year.
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Revenue for the half-year period stood at S$423.2 million, up 6 per cent from S$397.6 million recorded in the same period the year before.
The managers attributed the increase to higher income from its existing portfolio and S$32.7 million in additional contributions from acquisitions. This was partially offset by a drop in revenue of S$19.9 million from divestments.
For the full-year, total distribution fell 2 per cent on year to S$231.2 million from S$237 million, while revenue rose 9 per cent on year to S$809.5 million from S$744.6 million.
Stapled securities of Clas closed 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.88 on Friday.
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