Ascott Reit DPU falls 14% to 1.84 cents

No thanks to the inclusion of rights issue and equity placement.

Ascott Residence Trust's (Ascott Reit) distribution per unit (DPU) dropped 14% YoY from 2.13 S cents to 1.84 S cents for the quarter ending in June.

According to a statement released by Ascott Reit, the company's DPU would have risen by 8% from 1.95 to 2.10 S cents, if the one-off items, rights issues, and equity placement were excluded.

Unitholders' distribution was boosted 34% to $11.9m by repayment of foreign currency bank loans using the proceeds from Ascott Reit’s rights issue and proceeds from sales.

During the said quarter, Ascott's revenue rose by 4% to $123.6m due to gains from Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel and Citadines City Centre Frankfurt and Citadines Michel Hamburg. This was partially offset by a decrease in revenue from the sale of 18 rental housing properties in Tokyo.

On a same-store basis, the $1.7m revenue increase from Vietnam and Philippines was partially offset by revenue decrease from Singapore and the United Kingdom due to the depreciation of the British pound against the Singaporean dollar.