Office and retail REIT, Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (MGCCT) (SGX:RW0U) has announced a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.696 Singapore cents for its 1Q FY15/16, representing an increase of 8.7% from 1.56 Singapore cents in the same period last year.

Gross revenue and net property income (NPI) for the period also saw an increase of 19.1% and 18.7% to SGD75.9 million and SGD62.4 million respectively.

The manager of MGCCT has attributed the results to healthy rental reversions, strong leasing demand, high occupancy and good cost management at its existing portfolio of two properties - Festival Walk and Gateway Plaza.

“The acquisition of Sandhill Plaza, the first since the initial public offering of MGCCT, was completed on 17 June 2015, and is expected to contribute to the steady growth of the distributable income in subsequent quarters”, said Cindy Chow, CEO of MGCCT’s manager.

As of 30 June 2015, the REIT’s borrowings stood at HKD13,703 million including new debt from the acquisition of Sandhill Plaza. The REIT’s gearing ratio has increased to 41.2% from 36.2% in March 2015.

For the quarter Festival Walk and Gateway Plaza’s occupancy for the quarter is at 100% and 98.6% respectively. Occupancy of Sandhill Plaza has improved slightly to 98.5% as compared to 96.2% in March 2015.

“MGCCT’s portfolio is expected to continue to benefit from resilient domestic demand in Hong Kong, limited supply in the Beijing office sector and positive prospects underpinning Shanghai’s business park property market”, said the REIT in an official statement on the results.

Units of MGCCT last changed hands on the Singapore Exchange at SGD0.98.