Ascendas India Trust’s net income jumps 5% YoY to $155.7m

Despite this, DPU still declined by 11%.

Ascendas India Trust’s (a-iTrust) net income jumped 5% year-on-year (YoY) to $155.7m (INR 8.57m) in the financial year (FY) 2021.

The growth in the trust’s income was attributed to the income from the Anchor Annex building in Bangalore, and aVance 6 building in Hyderabad.

Income growth in the following properties however was partially offset “by lower portfolio occupancy and lower utilities and car park income as physical park population remained low on COVID-19 concerns during the year.”

Despite an increase in net income, the property trust's income to be distributed declined by 11% to $90m (INR 5.51m) from $101.3m (INR6.03m).

DPU, likewise dropped by 11% to 7.80 cents in FY2021 from 8.83 cents in FY2020.

a-iTrust said the decline in DPU was “largely due to the absence of one-off reversal of dividend distribution tax provision in FY 2020, higher finance costs for funding new investments, partially offset by the increase in NPI.”

In terms of portfolio, a-iTrust’s committed portfolio occupancy reached 87%.

Its portfolio valuation increased by 18% to $2.4b as of 31 December 2021.

Excluding new acquisitions in 2021, the value of the trust’s existing properties grew by 9%.