Suntec REIT's NPI up 2% to $123.7m in H1

Its properties yielded high committed occupancy rates.

Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust’s (REIT) NPI grew 2% YoY to $123.7m in H1 2018 from $121.3m, an announcement revealed. It saw a gross revenue growth of 3.1% to $181.2m in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, its distributable income grew 2.3% to $130.8m in H1 whilst income contribution from joint ventures slipped 1.7% to $45.3m. Distribution per unit (DPU) dipped 0.2% to 0.4907.

For Q1 2018, the firm’s revenue saw a 3.7% growth to $90.5m whilst NPI rose 2.2% to $60.7m. Distributable income remained stable at $66m.

By late June, Suntec REIT’s Singapore office portfolio reached an overall committed occupancy of 99.8%. The committed occupancy for Suntec City office improved to 99.7%.

“Suntec City has over the years diversified its tenant mix to multi-sectors,” ARA Trust Management CEO Chan Kong Leong commented.

Despite this, Chan said that the transitory downtime in the property, as well as higher financing costs, somehow offset the firm’s quarterly performance.

“We have commenced repositioning of Suntec City office to realise its intrinsic potential,” the CEO added. “Over the next three years, all five office towers will be progressively upgraded with refreshed lobbies, washrooms and visitor management system.”

In a year’s span, Suntec City office saw more entrants from the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) whilst existing tenants took up an approximate additional 70,000 sq ft of net lettable area.

Meanwhile, both One Raffles Quay and Marina Bay Financial Centre Properties, as well as its 177 Pacific Highway in Australia, enjoyed 100% committed occupancies. 

In addition, its Southgate Complex in Australia saw committed occupancies for the office towers and retail podium at rates of 92.7% and 90.4%, respectively.

The firm still has projects in 9 Penang Road and 477 Collins Street which are under construction works and is poised for completion by 2019 and 2020, respectively.