Mapletree Logistics Trust's net property income dipped 0.2% to $67.4m

Blame it on weaker Japan yen.

According to OCBC Investment Research, Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) reported a consistent set of 3QFY14 results last evening. NPI saw a marginal drop of 0.2% YoY to S$67.4m, dragged down by weaker JPY.

Here's more:

Excluding the forex impact, NPI would have grown by 3.6% on the back of higher renewal rents in Singapore and Hong Kong, and new income streams from Mapletree Wuxi Logistics Park and The Box Centre.

Impact of depreciating JPY on bottomline, however, was mitigated as contributions from Japan are substantially hedged. Together with a 22.9% decrease in borrowing costs and divestment gain of S$0.6m, amount distributable to unitholders rose by 7.7% to S$45.0m.

As such, DPU similarly grew by 7.0% to 1.84 S cents. This brings the 9MFY14 DPU to 5.46 S cents, meeting 75.2%/76.9% of our/consensus full-year projections.

Portfolio metrics remained sturdy Portfolio occupancy stood at 98.4%, representing a slight QoQ drop of 0.3ppt. This, we note, was due to the conversion of two single-user assets into multi-tenanted buildings in Singapore.

That aside, operational performance remained sturdy, as evidenced by robust rental reversions of 23% and healthy leasing activities (84% of FY14 leases renewed to-date vs. 62% a quarter ago) achieved at its portfolio.

Management reiterated that active lease and asset management will be a key priority going forward in light of the supply of warehouse space in 2014 and impending conversion of more single-user assets into multi-tenancies (which may result in occupancy dip).