CMMT's 3Q DPU up 2.4% on higher net property income

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust (CMMT)’s third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 (3QFY16) saw its distributable income rise 3.8% to RM43.3 million from RM41.7 million in 3QFY15.

The distribution per unit or DPU for the quarter was up 2.4% year-on-year to 2.13 sen from 2.08 sen, its bourse filing today showed.

Net property income rose 2.8% to RM61.4 million, from RM59.8 million in 3QFY15, said CMMT, mainly driven by full quarter contribution from Tropicana City Mall and Tropicana City Office Tower that was acquired on July 10, 2015, and higher contributions from Gurney Plaza and the East Coast Mall.

CMMT said unitholders can expect to receive their DPU for the quarter under review along with their DPU for the quarter ending Dec 31, 2016, by February 2017.

For the cumulative nine-month period (9MFY16), CMMT’s distributable income climbed 6.6% to RM128.5 million from RM120.5 million a year ago, though DPU slipped 2.8% to 6.33 sen from 6.51 sen in 9MFY15, as its number of units in circulation has risen to 2.031 billion, compared with 2.028 billion previuosly.

Net property income for the period went up 9.8% to RM182.1 million from RM165.8 million a year ago.

“The annualised DPU of 8.47 sen for 3QFY16 represents an increase of 2.7% over the same period last year and translates into an annualised distribution yield of 5.5% based on CMMT’s closing price of RM1.54 per unit on Oct 19, 2016,” it said.

CMMT chairman David Wong said retail sales for the second quarter of 2016 grew 7.5%, having rebounded from a severe decline following the implementation of the goods and services tax last year.

“The projected retail sales growth rate for the year remains at 3.5%, owing to a weak outlook for the global economy and persistent concerns about rising costs of living.

“As our malls are located in key urban centres across Malaysia catering mainly to necessity shopping, we are optimistic that CMMT will continue to deliver a stable performance for the rest of the year,” he said.

CMMT chief executive officer Low Peck Chen said in 3QFY16, four of its five properties recorded an improvement in net property income, with Gurney Plaza achieving double-digit growth of 10.8%.

She said although Sungei Wang Plaza’s net property income was temporarily affected by the ongoing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) works, the mall will stand to benefit from the increased flow of shopper traffic when the MRT station is expected to become operational in the second half of 2017.

CMMT closed unchanged at RM1.54 for a market capitalisation of RM3.13 billion. — theedgemarkets.com