CRCT sees China business remaining resilient

CapitaRetail China Trust (CRCT) expects its mall business in China to remain fairly resilient even as the country's economic growth slows this year. The trust shared this outlook yesterday as it unveiled a 76 per cent year-on-year jump in net property income to $20.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2008. As a result, income available for distribution rose 64 per cent to $14.1 million. This translates to a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.27 cents, exceeding the 1.80 cents in 4Q 2007. On an annualised basis, CRCT's DPU in Q4 2008 was 9.03 cents, generating a distribution yield of 15.1 per cent based on the unit closing price of 60 cents as at Dec 31, 2008. The trust gained 3.5 cents to close at 66 cents yesterday. For FY2008, income available for distribution also improved 43 per cent from a year ago to $45.9 million. This led to a DPU of 7.53 cents, higher than the 6.72 cents in FY2007. The distribution yield reached 12.6 per cent.

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