First REIT’s net income rises 29.4% to $100.2m in FY2021

Despite this, the REIT’s DPU dropped 37.1%.

First Real Estate Investment Trust’s (REIT) net property income for the financial year 2021 grew 29.4% to $100.2m in FY2021.

The increase in the REIT’s net income also pushed the REIT’s distributable income to unitholders to $42.1m, a jump of 26.1% when compared to FY2020.

Despite the increase in distributable income, the REIT’s distribution per unit (DPU) for FY2021 dropped by 37.1% to 2.61 Singapore cents, mainly due to the issuance of 791,062,223 rights units in February 2021.

Without the rights units, the adjusted DPU will be 5.12 Singapore cents, up 23.4% from FY2020.

The REIT, however, sees an increase in its DPU with its acquisition of twelve Japan nursing homes at an agreed purchase price of $280.45m (JPY24.2b).

“It also allows us to create value for our Unitholders as it is DPU-accretive with an expected 0.8% increase in DPU to 1.31 Singapore cents from 1.30 Singapore cents on a 1H2021 pro forma basis,” Victor Tan, CEO of First REIT Management Limited, the REIT’s manager.

The assets in Japan is also expected to bolster the REIT’s income streams.

“Moving forward, under the strategic pillars of our 2.0 Growth Strategy, we also intend to diversify our funding sources to enhance our capital structure, capitalise on relevant megatrends such as Environment Social Governance (ESG) and ageing population demographics factors to boost growth, as well as reshape our portfolio through the recycling of non-core and non-healthcare assets,” Tan said.