Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) has announced that its distribution per unit (DPU) for the third quarter rose by 21 percent, fuelled by the 28 serviced residence properties added to its portfolio last year.
“This is mainly attributable to the yield-accretive acquisition of the 28 serviced residences and the divestment of Ascott Beijing,” said Lim Jit Poh, Chairman of Ascott Residence Trust Management Ltd (ARTML), the manager of the trust.
Overall, distributable income in Q3 more than doubled to S$25.3 million against S$12.0 million a year ago.
The trust completed the acquisition of the 28 properties in Europe, Vietnam and Singapore from The Ascott Ltd for a total of S$969.6 million. It also divested Ascott Beijing to Ascott in 2010 and later completed the divestment of Country Woods Jakarta in Indonesia.
These moves helped the company to achieve a 57 percent increase in Q3 revenue to S$73.0 million, from S$46.5 million over the same period last year.
“Ascott Reit’s revenue per available unit (RevPAU) achieved an 11 percent increase this quarter as compared to 3Q2010, mainly attributable to the strong performance of the Singapore and United Kingdom serviced residences. RevPAU this quarter also outperformed the forecast by six percent,” said Chong Kee Hiong, Chief Executive of ARTML.
“For 2011, we expect to achieve better operating results as compared to 2010 and to deliver the forecast 2011 distribution of 7.74 cents,” he noted.
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