OUE C-REIT's Q2 NPI soared 20.1% YoY to $40.8m

This is mainly due to contribution from the OUE Downtown office acquired last November.

OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) continued its strong growth throughout the first half of the year as its net profit income (NPI) jumped 20.1% YoY to $40.8m in Q2 from $33.9m last year, an announcement revealed. Revenue for the quarter also leapt 20.5% YoY to $51.9m from $43.1m in the previous year.

For the first half of the year, NPI rose 21.8% YoY to $84.3m from $69.2m in H1 2018 whilst revenue increased by 23% YoY to $107.2m from $87.2m recorded in the previous year.

Also read: OUE C-REIT's NPI up 23.5% to $43.57m in Q1

Its strong performance was mainly attributed to the contribution from their OUE Downtown Office acquired last November 2018. The report also noted higher committed retail occupancy, improved committed office occupancy, higher average passing office rents, and higher renewal of rents, particularly for Lippo Plaza and OUE Bayfront.

The firm’s amount available for distribution climbed 36.6% YoY to $22.5m in Q2 from $16.5m last year, whilst distribution per unit (DPU) fell 26.4% YoY to $0.0078 in the second quarter from $0.0106. Factoring in the more than 1.2 billion new units issued on 30 October last year, Q2’s DPU increased 34.5% YoY from Q2 2018’s restated $0.0058.

OUE C-REIT’s portfolio comprises four prime commercial properties: OUE Bayfront, OUE Downtown, One Raffles Place in Singapore, and Lippo Plaza in Shanghai.

The firm reported a stable committed portfolio occupancy of 94.5%. OUE Bayfront overall committed office occupancy stood at 99.4%, well above the overall Singapore CBD Office market occupancy of 96.1%. However, One Raffles Place and OUE Downtown’s office occupancy finished lower at 94.5% and 93.2%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Lippo Plaza’s overall committed office occupancy stood at 90.6% whilst current office occupancy is reported to be at 89.2%, higher than Shanghai’s CBD Grade A Office market occupancy of 88.4%.

Last April 8, the managers of both OUE C-REIT and OUE Hospitality Trust (OUE H-Trust) issued a joint announcement on the proposed merger of OUE CREIT and OUE H-Trust by way of a trust scheme of arrangement. More details will be announced later.

OUE C-REIT has declared a distribution of $0.0168 payable on 12 September.