Petaling Jaya, April 26 – Axis REIT Managers Berhad (ARMB), the Manager of Malaysia’s largest Islamic Business Space and Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust, as well as Malaysia’s first REIT to be listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad; announced its Total Trust Revenue rose by 4% to RM42,693,000 in the 1st quarter of 2017; compared to RM41,215,000 in the preceding year corresponding quarter.
The realised net income from operations was RM22,802,000 (inclusive loss on disposal of RM413,000) compared to RM22,169,000 in the preceding year corresponding quarter; an increase of 3%. Total expenditure for the quarter was RM19,478,000 of which RM6,541,000 were attributed to property expenses and RM12,937,000 to non-property expenses.
The disposal of Axis Eureka was completed on 8 March 2017, and has resulted in a total realised net gain on disposal of RM1,351,000 which comprises the realisation of unrealised income* of RM1,764,000; less the loss on disposal of RM413,000.
The Manager has proposed that the gain on disposal to be distributed in two tranches:
Aggregating the net income from operations, total net gain on disposal together with the balance of undistributed earnings brought forward from prior year, the Trust has declared the first interim 2017 DPU of 2.15 sen payable on 31 May of 2017, which is 5% higher than last year’s preceding corresponding quarter of 2.05 sen.
“We are pleased that Axis-REIT’s portfolio continues to hold steady and deliver good returns to Unitholders. The portfolio continues to enjoy long weighted average lease expiry (“WALE”) of 4.46 years with a positive rental reversion of 5.8% for the 1st quarter of 2017,” said Leong Kit May, CEO of Axis REIT Management Berhad.
On the acquisition front for 2017, Ms Leong further added that the Trust had begun the acquisition trail with two letters of offer which have been duly accepted for the proposed acquisition of an industrial facility located at Iskandar Puteri, Johor for a proposed purchase consideration of RM50,000,000, and a second letter of offer which has been duly accepted to purchase an industrial facility located at Kuantan, Pahang for a purchase consideration of RM155,000,000.
A total of RM2,597,000 has been incurred for enhancement of the properties of Axis-REIT and RM19,401,000 has been incurred for the Axis PDI Development Project during the current quarter under review.
ARMB is also optimistic that in view of the current satisfactory performance of Axis-REIT’s existing investment portfolio, and its strategy of proactive capital management, asset enhancement of its existing properties, tenant management as well as actively in pursuit of quality acquisitions, the Trust will be able to maintain its current performance for the coming quarter and the financial year ending 31 December 2017.