Keppel Infrastructure Trust back into the black as Q2 profit hit $15.9m

Revenue ballooned to $418.02m from $142.9m in Q2 2018.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) has rebounded to a profit of $15.9m in Q2 2019 from a loss of $4.04m in Q2 2018. Its revenue almost tripled to $418.02m in Q2 from $142.9m during the same period last year.

The firm noted that distribution per Unit (DPU) was $0.093 for Q2, bringing H1 2019 DPU to 0.186 cents, translating to an annualised distribution yield of 7.4%.

The firm highlighted that Ixom, which started contributing to KIT from February, is on track in delivering according to projected targets. For Basslink, commercial risk sharing mechanism was positive at 12.5% for the quarter.

“As updated previously, the ongoing dispute between Basslink with Hydro Tasmania (HT) and the State of Tasmania (State) arising from the December 2015 outage have been referred to arbitration,” the firm explained.

Meanwhile, KIT continues to monitor the operational performance of the SingSpring Desalination plant, which it owns a 70% interest, to ensure that SingSpring Desalination plant’s obligations under the Water Purchase Agreement are satisfactorily discharged. Operations at the plant are stable, and the plant has fulfilled all contractual requirements as at 30 June 2019

In May, the firm unveiled a $1billion multi-currency debt issuance programme. In June 2019, KIT successfully issued a total of $300 million 4.75% subordinated perpetual securities, which was launched in two tranches of $200m and $100m, respectively, and consolidated to form a single series.