Capitaland Malaysia Mall Trust registers slightly lower net property income

PETALING JAYA: CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust (CMMT) registered net property income (NPI) of RM59.8 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, slightly lower than the RM60 million for the corresponding period last year.
Its manager CapitaLand Malaysia Mall REIT Management Sdn Bhd (CMRM) said this largely due to lower contribution from the Klang Valley shopping malls, namely Sungei Wang Plaza, Tropicana City Mall and The Mines, which was mitigated by stronger performance from Gurney Plaza and East Coast Mall.
Distributable income for 2Q 2017 was RM41.9 million and distribution per unit (DPU) was 2.06 sen.
The total DPU for the period from Jan 1 to June 30, 2017 (1H 2017) was 4.14 sen and the annualised DPU of 8.35 sen for 1H 2017 translates to an annualised distribution yield of 5.4%, based on CMMT's closing price of RM1.55 per unit on July 18, 2017.
As CMMT's DPU is paid out on a half yearly basis, unitholders can expect to receive their 1H 2017 DPU on Aug 25, 2017.
"Lifted by stronger domestic demand, the Malaysian economy expanded 5.6% in the first quarter of 2017, and is projected to grow 4.3% to 4.8% for the full year. However, retail sales in 1Q 2017 have yet to recover and have fallen by a further 1.2% year-on-year. In light of the prevailing cautious consumer sentiment and increasing competition brought on by new malls, the operating environment for the retail industry is expected to remain challenging. Despite this, we remain positive that our portfolio of well-diversified necessity malls will continue to deliver sustainable income distribution for unitholders in the long term," CMRM Chairman David Wong.
Its CEO Low Peck Chen said for the quarter under review, the increased contributions of Gurney Plaza and East Coast Mall helped to moderate the lower contributions from its Klang Valley malls, which were impacted by increased competition in the area and higher costs of living. Amidst a challenging operating environment, all its malls achieved a committed occupancy level of above 90%, and on the whole, its portfolio occupancy stood at a healthy 95.8% as at June 30, 2017.