CapitaLand China Trust net property income dips 5.8% in 2024

This is despite the 13.7% growth from three malls that were refreshed.

CapitaLand China Trust reported a net property income of $225.88m (CNY1.218b) for the financial year 2024, a dip of 5.8% year-on-year.

The group attributed the loss to the absence of contributions from CapitaMall Shuangjing and CapitaMall Qibao, along with lower contributions from its business parks and logistics parks, resulting in a 5.8% YoY NPI decline.

CapitaMall Qibao ceased operations in March 2023 whilst CapitaMall Shuangjing was divested in January 2024.

CLCT’s nine retail assets saw an increase of 1.9% YoY in retail NPI. Three malls that underwent asset enhancement initiatives in 2023 demonstrated strong performance, achieving a 13.7% YoY growth in NPI and a blended return on investment (ROI) of about 14%, exceeding the cost of funds.

The retail sector, the largest asset class in CLCT’s portfolio, accounted for 70.7% of the portfolio’s gross rental income as of 31 December 2024.

On the capital management front, CLCT leveraged lower RMB interest rates to reduce its overall cost of debt, issuing a CNH 400 million bond due in 2027 at 2.9% per annum in October 2024 to replace higher-interest SGD loans. This increased the proportion of its Renminbi (RMB) denominated debt facilities to 35%3 of its total debt as at 31 December 2024. CLCT said it aims to further raise this to approximately 50% of its loan book by the end of 2025.

The group reported a distributable income of $96.8m and a Distribution Per Unit (DPU) of 5.65 cents on an enlarged unit base. The distributable income for FY 2024 was impacted by lower performance from business parks and logistics parks, lower realised foreign exchange gain and foreign currency translation due to a weaker RMB against Singapore Dollar (SGD), partially offset by lower finance costs.