CapitaLand Commercial Trust Q3 distributable income rises

CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) on Friday reported a 7 percent rise in third-quarter distributable income due to stronger performance from CapitaGreen and divestment gains.

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A man passes a Capitaland logo outside an office building in the central business district in Singapore January 22, 2016 Reuters

CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) on Friday reported a 7 percent rise in third-quarter distributable income due to stronger performance from CapitaGreen and divestment gains.

Distributable income rose to S$73.1 million for the three months ended September 30 from S$68.3 million a year earlier, it said in a statement.

CCT, a unit of property developer CapitaLand, said there was S$3.3 million top-up for the loss of distributable income arising from the divestments of One George Street and Wilkie Edge in the quarter.

Gross revenue fell 0.4 percent to S$74.1 million. The decrease was mainly due to divestments of One George Street, Wilkie Edge and Golden Shoe Car Park, CCT said.

Finance costs of rose 18.5 percent to S$14.7 million due to consolidation of MSO Trust's finance costs which increased by S$7.5 million.

However, the increase was offset by lower interest costs arising from repayment of CCT's bank borrowings using the divestment proceeds, the company said.

CCT last month said it would buy Asia Square Tower 2 in Singapore's Marina Bay from BlackRock for about S$2.1 billion. The deal will be funded through a mix of rights issue, bank borrowings and disposals.

"Asia Square Tower 2 firmly extends CCT's footprint into Marina Bay, resulting in a more resilient, diversified and higher quality asset base; and a stronger tenant mix that augments CCT for long-term growth," Lynette Leong, Chief Executive Officer of the Manager said.

CCT said it expects lower net property income for full-year at select properties in its current portfolio due to flow-through of negative rent reversions of leases committed in 2017 and potentially continued negative rent reversions in 2018.

Shares were up 0.3 percent at S$1.66 on the Singapore Exchange.

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