SASSEUR Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur Reit) posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of S$0.03153 for the first half ended Jun 30, down 5.1 per cent from S$0.03322 in the previous corresponding period.
Distributable income fell 2.9 per cent on the year to S$42.7 million for H1 2024, from S$43.9 million.
On Thursday (Aug 8), its manager attributed this decline to changes in the treatment of upfront borrowing costs and manager’s base fee component.
Upfront borrowing costs are not included in the Reit’s distributable income starting from H2 2023, said the manager. It also noted that the manager’s base fee in cash had changed to 20 per cent since January.
Excluding the impact from these changes, DPU for H1 would have increased 1.7 per cent on the year to S$0.03378.
The distribution will be paid out on Sep 26 after the record date of Sep 6.
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Rental income under the Reit’s entrusted management agreement (EMA) model fell 0.4 per cent to S$62.3 million from S$62.6 million, excluding straight-line adjustments.
The slight fall in rental income was mainly due to the weakening of the renminbi against the Singapore dollar, said the manager.
In yuan terms, the Reit’s EMA rental income grew 0.9 per cent on the year to 329 million yuan (S$60.8 million) from 326 million yuan.
Looking ahead, chairman of the Reit’s manager Vito Xu is positive on China’s economic outlook for the rest of the year.
“Given the near-term challenges for China’s economy, the market expects the government to introduce more policies to further stimulate economic growth in the second half of the year to achieve its 2024 gross domestic product target,” he said.
In July, the Chinese government reiterated its goal to meet its 2024 GDP target of 5 per cent.
“We believe these structural trends will benefit Sasseur Reit, given its outlets’ positioning as a one-stop destination for providing value-for-money bargains and lifestyle shopping experiences,” Xu added.
Units of Sasseur Reit closed 2.2 per cent or S$0.015 higher at S$0.685 on Wednesday.
