Suntec REIT's net property income fell 37.4% to S$30.7m

Blame it on the partial closure of SCM.

According to OCBC Investment Research, Suntec REIT announced its 1Q13 results after the market close yesterday. Gross revenue fell 32.2% YoY to S$49.7m, while NPI saw a 37.4% decline to S$30.7m amid the partial closure of Suntec City Mall (SCM) and Suntec Singapore for asset enhancement works (AEI). 

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However, distributable income dropped by a more benign rate of 13.3% to S$47.6m. Further aided by a S$2.7m top-up from Chijmes sale proceeds, the distributable amount eased only by 8.4% to S$50.3m.

This translates to a DPU of 2.228 S cents, down 9.2% YoY. We deem the results to be well within expectations, given that the quarterly distribution made up 24-25% of our and consensus FY13F DPU.

Retail segment registered a 38.9% YoY decrease in revenue as another portion of SCM next to Promenade MRT station was closed in Mar to execute the Phase 2 AEI. We also note that Suntec Singapore made minimal contribution during the quarter.

However, the office segment continued to perform, achieving a 7.6% growth in revenue on the back of positive rental reversions and consistently high occupancy of 99.7% (unchanged QoQ). Management updated that it has signed a total of 185,000 sqft of leases in 1Q, leaving it with only 10.3% of office leases due to expire in 2013. As such, we expect the segment to continue to exhibit resilience for the rest of FY13.