Manulife US REIT H2 DPU dropped 11.3% YoY to 2.59 US cents

Its DPU for FY2020 went down 5.4% YoY to 5.64 US cents.

Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) recorded an 11.3% YoY decline on its distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.59 US cents for H2 FY2020 from last year’s 2.92 US cents, the company said in its financial report.

The company’s DPU for the entire FY2020 went down 5.4% YoY to 5.64 US cents from last year’s 5.96 US cents, mainly due to H2 FY2020 lower property income and provision for expected credit losses largely from retail trade and F&B tenants.

Gross revenue for H2 went up by 1.2% to US$95.6m, with the whole FY2020 gross revenue seeing a 9.3% YoY increase to over US$194m from last year’s nearly US$178m. 

Meanwhile, net property income fell 8.2% YoY to US$53.7m from US$58.4m a year ago due to lower income from Michelson and Peachtree, lower portfolio carpark income, as well as provision for expected credit losses.

Manulife US REIT’s distributable income for the FY2020 rose by 6.8% YoY to nearly US$89m from US$83m from the previous year due to the higher contributions from the Centrepointe and Capitol properties.

The company’s chief executive officer, Jill Smith, noted that the results for FY 2020 were “stable”.

“In 2020, we refinanced mortgages taking full advantage of the low interest rates and for 2021, we are in advanced negotiations for a sustainability-linked loan with expected cost savings. The fast-paced US vaccine rollout will hasten the economic recovery, return to work and enable business leaders to start making decisions on office leases,” Smith said.

She added that the REIT intends to boost growth with at least 20% of tenants in high growth sectors having built a well-diversified, top-quality tenant base.