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Writer's pictureDaniel Lee
May 310 min read

Singapore REITs Business Updates For April 2024

Updated: May 6

Here are the REITS that have reported their earnings or business updates in April 2024.


You can skip to the respective REITs that you are interested in by clicking on the name:


In 2024, I will analyse every single listed REIT counter in Singapore. You can assess my independent analyst report on my telegram channel and stay informed with future REIT analysis and earnings updates.


 

CapitaLand Ascott Trust

CapitaLand Ascott Trust announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • Gross profit rose 15% year-on-year due to stronger operating performance and contributions from new properties

  • On a same-store basis, excluding acquisitions and divestments between 1Q 2023 and 1Q 2024, gross profit was 7% higher y-o-y due to stronger operating performance

  • All of CLAS’ key markets – Australia, Japan, Singapore, UK and USA – registered higher RevPAU y-o-y

 

What is negative:

  • The average cost of debt increased to 3.0% mainly due to a higher proportion of GBP and EUR debt arising from the new acquisitions

 

My stance on CapitaLand Ascott Trust had remained unchanged.


 

CapitaLand China Trust

CapitaLand China Trust announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • Occupancy rate remained resilient at 87.7% which is above market level of 91.1%

  • Average cost of debt decreased by 0.1% to 3.47%

  • Gearing decreased by 0.7% to 40.8%

 

What is negative:

  • NPI in SGD terms declined 11.8% YoY partially due to 4.7% YoY depreciation of RMB to SGD as well as lower contributions from logistics parks and the absence of one-off property tax refund from business parks


I’ve revised my valuation model to account for a 10% decline in DPU following the FX and logistical headwinds. Apart from a lower entry price, my views on CapitaLand China Trust have not changed.

 

Read more: To be uploaded soon.


 

CapitaLand India Trust

CapitaLand India Trust announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • Gross revenue and net property income in 1Q 2024 increased by 25% and 18% year-on-year largely due to higher rental income from existing properties and income contributions from acquisition and development

  • Committed occupancy increased by 6% to 94% year on year


What is negative:

  • Nil

I’ve no comments on CapitaLand India Trust as I’ve not covered it yet.


Read more: To be uploaded soon.


 

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust

CICT announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:  

  • Net property income increased by 6.3% year on year supported by gross rental income growth and lower operating expenses

  • Portfolio retention rate remained well above 84%


What is negative:

  • Portfolio occupancy decreased by 0.3% quarter over quarter


My stance on CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust had remained unchanged.



 

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:  

  • Portfolio Rental Reversion came in at +16%

 

What is negative:

  • Portfolio occupancy decreased by 0.9% quarter over quarter to 93.3%

  • Weighted average all in debt cost increased by 0.3% to 3.8%

 

My stance on CapitaLand Ascendas REIT had remained unchanged.


 

Cromwell European REIT

Cromwell European REIT announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:  

  • Like-for-like NPI up 5.0%, with 93.4% occupancy with strong +9.2% 1Q 2024 portfolio rent reversion

  • Renewed CEREIT's largest tenant-customer lease for a further five years, taking their expiry out to 2030 and extending office portfolio WALE to 4.5 years.

  • Overall portfolio occupancy was 93.4% and the manager expects occupancy to increase to 94- 95% once the recently completed developments are fully leased up

What is negative:

  • 1Q indicative DPU fell by 10.2% Year on Year mainly due to the impact of higher borrowing costs

  • NPI declined moderately by 2.7% compared to the prior corresponding period primarily due to divestments

  • CEREIT’s all-in interest rate stood slightly higher at 3.28% as at 31 March 2024, compared to 3.19% a quarter ago

I’ve revised my valuation model to account for a 10% decline in DPU following the impact of a higher borrowing cost. Despite the revised DPU, my views on Cromwell European REIT have not changed.


 

CDL Hospitality Trust

CapitaLand Ascott Trust announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • Gross revenue and net property income (“NPI”) in 1Q 2024 increased by 7.3% and 6.8% year-on-year largely driven by higher occupancies across all geographical markets

 

What is negative:

  • The average cost of debt increased to 4.3% and is expected to increase further as 30% of their debt is due for renewal in 2024.

 

My stance on CDL Hospitality Trust had remained unchanged.



 

Digital Core REIT

Digital Core REIT announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • Average cost of debt decreased by 0.8% to 3.9%.

  • Repurchased 7.9 million units at an average price of $0.579 in 1Q2024, delivering 0.6% DPU accretion

  • No major refinancing requirements till 2026

 

What is negative:

  • In February, Digital Core REIT raised another US$120 million through a successful private placement of 192 million units at US$0.625.

  • Revenue dropped by 8.2% and Net Property Income decreased by 9.5% year on year.

 

I’ve no comments on Digital Core REIT as I’ve not covered it yet.


 

ESR Logos REIT

ESR Logos REIT announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • E-LOG entered into a subscription agreement on 1 Feb 2024 to invest US$70.0 million (approximately S$93.0 million) in the ESR Japan Income Fund which is expected to increase DPU by 1.8%

  • The occupancy rate remained stable with 10.8% positive rental reversion in 1Q 2024

  • 11,420,600 Units bought back in 1Q2024 at average price of S$0.299 per Unit

  • No refinancing risk in 2024


What is negative:

Revenue dropped by 8.9% and Net Property Income decreased by 10.8% year on year mainly due to the divestment of non-core assets in FY2023.

 

I’ve got no comments as my views on ESR Logos REIT is not up to date as I’ve yet updated the model for FY 2023 performances.



 

Far East Hospitality Trust

Far East Hospitality Trust announced their 1Q 2024 business update of which:

What is positive:

  • Gross revenue and net property income (“NPI”) in 1Q 2024 increased by 7.5% and 6.0% year-on-year largely driven by a higher average daily rate.  

 

What is negative:

  • The average occupancy fell by 1.5% for hotels and 3.7% for serviced apartments year on year

  • The average cost of debt increased by 0.4% to 3.7% due to refinancing done for 2024. 

 

My stance on Far East Hospitality Trust had remained unchanged.



 

Frasers Centrepoint Trust

Frasers Centrepoint Trust announced their 1H 2024 business update of which:


What is positive:

  • FCT portfolio achieved good leasing traction that underpinned better rental reversions and near-full occupancy across all our malls

  • Excluding the effects from the divestment of Changi City Point and Tampines 1 AEI, gross revenue and NPI registered healthy y-o-y growth of 2.9% and 2.1%

  • The retail portfolio achieved 7.5% rental reversion for 1H24 on the back of healthy leasing traction, which is higher than the 4.3% achieved for 1H23. Retail portfolio tenants’ sales for 2Q24 were 4.3% higher y-o-y and continued to average approximately 20% above pre-COVID levels.


What is negative:

  • 1H24 gross revenue declined 7.2% y-o-y and NPI was 8.4% lower. The declines were due to lower contributions from Changi City Point which was divested in October 2023 and from Tampines 1 due to the ongoing AEI works.

My stance on Frasers Centrepoint Trust had remained unchanged.


 

First REIT

First REIT announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:


What is positive:

  • On local currency terms, operation remained resilient with minimal top-line growth of 4.5% in Indonesia and 2% in Singapore while Japan’s performances remained unchanged.

  • No debt refinancing requirements until May 2026 should keep borrowing costs in check in the next 12 months

  • As at 31 March 2024, over one-third of the currency volatility impact on net cash flow for the full year ending 31 December 2024 has been hedged


What is negative:

  • DPU experienced a decline of 3.2% Y.O.Y due to the FX impacts and higher borrowing costs.

  • Rental is still outstanding from tenant PT Metropolis Propetindo Utama of S$5.2mil 

 

My stance on First REIT had remained unchanged.


 

 

IREIT Global

IREIT Global announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:


What is positive:

  • 11.1% rental reversion and 5.7% rental escalation year to date

  • Occupancy rate improved by 0.9% to 91.5%

  • Aggregate leverage declined by 0.9% to 37% due to the repayment of existing borrowings in relation to the divestment of Il∙lumina.

 

What is negative:

  • Nil


My stance on IREIT Global had remained unchanged.



 

Keppel DC REIT

Keppel DC REIT announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:

 

What is positive:

  • Opportunistic divestment of Australia data centre to unlock value and optimise Unitholder return via debt repayment and reinvesting in fixed income note that is expected to increase DPU by 0.7%

  • Aggregate leverage post transactions expected to improve to 36.7% from 37.6% as at 31 Mar 2024

  • Higher gross revenue in 1Q 2024 mainly due to the settlement sum received in relation to the dispute with DXC and positive reversions and escalations

 

What is negative:

  • Guangdong DCs 1Q 2024 rental income continues to be recognised under “Gross Revenue”, correspondingly net off via loss allowance in “Property Expenses”. Impact to 1Q 2024 DPU of 0.326 cent

 

My stance on Keppel DC REIT is outdated as I’ve not updated the FY 2023 financial performances.


 

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust

MPACT announced their FY 2023/2024 results of which:

 

What is positive:

  • Improved Financial Performance: Gross revenue (+16%), net property income (+15.2%)

  • Year-on-year improvement in portfolio committed occupancy (96.1%) and positive full-year rental reversion (+2.9%)

 

What is negative:

  • DPU decreased by 7.3% on the back of higher net finance costs and higher property operating expenses

  • Weighted average all-in cost of debt stood at 3.35% which is an increase of 0.67% year-on-year

 

I’ve got no comments as I’ve not covered MPACT yet.

 

Mapletree Industrial Trust

MIT announced their FY 2023/2024 results of which:

What is positive:

  • Gross revenue and net property income for FY23/24 increased by 1.8% and 0.6% Year on year which is mainly driven by revenue contributions from the redevelopment project, Mapletree Hi-Tech Park @ Kallang Way, the data centre in Osaka, Japan

  • Positive rental revisions across all property segments

  • No major refinancing risk in 2024

What is negative:

  • DPU decreased by 1% on the back of higher net finance costs and higher property operating expenses

  • Portfolio valuation declined as a result of higher capitalisation and discount rates

 

I’ve got no comments as I’m waiting on the annual report to update the model.

 


 

Mapletree Logistic Trust

MLT announced their FY 2023/2024 results of which:

What is positive:

  • Stable operating performance with 96.0% occupancy and 2.9% positive rental reversions

  • Over FY23/24, MLT has executed more than S$200 million of divestments at an average premium to valuation of almost 13%. This enables MLT to recycle the proceeds into acquisitions of assets with higher growth potential

 

What is negative:

  • DPU dropped by 2.5% year on year due to the impacts of FX depreciation and higher borrowing cost

  • The weighted average borrowing cost for 4Q FY23/24 rose to 2.7% per annum, as compared to 2.5% in the prior quarter

  • Aggregate borrowing levels increased by 2.1% to 38.9%

 

I’ve got no comments as I’m waiting on the annual report to update the model.


 

OUE Commercial REIT

OUE Commercial REIT announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:

 

What is positive:

  • Improved Financial Performance: Gross revenue (+9.5%), and net property income (+6.9%) Year on Year mainly driven by higher contributions from Hilton Singapore Orchard and the resilient performance of Singapore commercial properties

  • No refinancing requirement until the second half of 2025 when only 25% of the total debt is due

 

What is negative:

  • The weighted average all-in cost of debt stood at 4.5% which is an increase of 0.2% year on year

 

I’ve got no comments as I’ve not covered OUE Commercial REIT yet.


 

Starhill Global REIT

Starhill Global REIT announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:

What is positive:

  • Operating performance remained resilient with a high occupancy rate (98%) and long WALE (7.8 years)

  • Revenue for 3Q FY23/24 rose 0.7% y-o-y, mainly attributed to higher contributions from Singapore Properties, partially offset by weaker foreign currencies and loss of income from Japan divestment

 

What is negative:

  • Net property income was lower by 0.9% y-o-y, mainly due to weaker foreign currencies and higher operating expenses, partially offset by higher revenue

 

My stance on Starhill Global REIT had remained unchanged.


 

Sabana Industrial REIT

Sabana Industrial REIT announced their 1Q 2024 results of which:


What is positive:

  • New and renewed leases totalling 139,426 sq ft with a positive 23.7% rental reversion, sustaining the positive quarterly rental reversion track record since 1Q 2021

  • The REIT successfully obtained an Order for Possession on 28 February 2024 and took possession of 33 & 35 Penjuru Lane on 8 March 2024 as per the Order of Court, with legal costs arising out of the application payable to the REIT

 

What is negative:

  • Portfolio occupancy of 83.0% due to re-possession of 33 & 35 Penjuru Lane on 8 March 2024.

  • Average all-borrowing cost increased by 0.12% to 4.01%

  • Internalisation is still ongoing and more cost is expected to be incurred to facilitate the process

 

My stance on Sabana Industrial REIT had remained unchanged.



 

Daniel is a Licensed Independent Financial Consultant with MAS and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®).


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Disclaimer:

This article is meant to be the opinion of the author

This article is for information purposes only

This article should not be seen as financial advice

This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore

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