Axis REIT says 4Q net income up 8.31%, declares DPU of 2.25 sen

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) saw its net property income (NPI) for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20) rise 8.31% to RM51.11 million from RM47.19 million a year earlier, thanks to higher revenue or total trust income.

Axis REIT declared a final distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.25 sen, including a non-taxable portion of 1.42 sen, which will be paid on March 11.

This brings the total DPU for FY20 to 8.75 sen, from 9.26 sen in FY19.

For the full year, NPI stood at RM198.52 million, up 3.55% from the RM191.71 million posted in FY19.

As for revenue, the commercial property REIT — which has offices, warehousing and manufacturing facilities under its portfolio — reported a 3.94% increase to RM224.94 million from RM216.41 million a year prior.

“The manager remains cautious of the current Covid-19 pandemic which has caused a global economic downturn.

“While the pandemic's impact on Axis REIT's operations and financials have been manageable thus far, should the pandemic prolong or worsen unexpectedly this may impact the trust’s performance for FY21,” it said yesterday.

Axis REIT said that during this challenging and uncertain time, the manager is actively managing the portfolio and exercising prudent capital management to enable the REIT to deliver sustainable EPU and DPU payout to unitholders.

“Positively, the current gearing level of 33% provides headroom for Axis-REIT to continue its yield accretive acquisition strategy should good opportunities come along,” Axis REIT noted on its prospects,” it added.

Meanwhile, Axis REIT said unitholders can elect to reinvest their final DPU, of which 1.1 sen can be reinvested into new units.

The issue price for the new units has been fixed today at RM1.88, which is a 6.47% or 13 sen discount to its five-day volume-weighted average market price of RM2.01 per unit.

Units in Axis REIT finished 3.5% or seven sen lower at RM1.93 yesterday, valuing the trust at RM2.78 billion. The counter saw 2.18 million shares traded.

Get the latest news @ www.EdgeProp.my

Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates 

Click here for more property stories