Frasers Centrepoint Trust's NPI up 2.6% to $36.32m in Q1

Income from PGIM ARF boosted its growth.

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) saw its net property income edge up 2.6% YoY to $36.32m in Q1 2020 from $35.39m in 2019, an announcement revealed. Its distribution per unit (DPU) also rose 1.3% YoY to 3.06 cents in the same period.

FCT’s gross revenue ended at $49.72m, 1% YoY higher than $49.28m in Q1 2019, and its NPI margin inched up 1 ppt to 73%. This was boosted by higher overall portfolio occupancy and rental growth from renewals and replacement leases.

Furthermore, income available for distribution for Q1 2020 rose 26.5% YoY to $35m, thanks to contributions from FCT’s 24.8% interest in PGIM Real Estate AsiaRetail Fund (PGIM ARF) and 40% interest in Sapphire Star Trust (SST). The distribution from PGIM ARF was at $4.12m and the amount from SST was $3.63m. Distribution to unitholders in the same quarter was up 22.1% YoY to $34.2m.

Also read: FCT acquisitions to boost growth: analyst

During Q1 2020, FCT renewed 60 leases accounting for 142,103 sqft of net lettable area (NLA) were renewed at an average portfolio rental reversion of +5%. All properties are said to have registered positive rental reversions ranging between 2.7% and 7.1%.

Portfolio occupancy as at 31 December 2019 was 97.3%, led by Causeway Point with an occupancy rate of 97.8%. Anchorpoint followed as its occupancy recovered to 93.5% from 79% in the previous quarter. Overall portfolio shopper traffic was up 8.4% YoY, due to strong traffic increase at Northpoint City.