Croesus Retail Trust's Fuji Grand Natalie. (Photo: Croesus Retail Trust)

Singapore-listed Croesus Retail Trust has achieved a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.70 Singapore cents for its 4Q 2016, an increase of 6.9% when compared to the restated DPU of 1.59 cents for 4Q 2015.

The DPU for 4Q 2015 has been restated to reflect the effect of 114,222,677 units issued pursuant to a rights issue in November 2015, and 27,682,070 units issued pursuant to a preferential offering exercise in August 2016.

Without the restatements, Croesus Retail Trust’s DPU for 4Q 2016 would have shown a 15% fall from the 2.02 cents paid in 4Q 2015.

The Singapore-listed but Japan-focused trust registered gross revenue of JPY2,675 million (USD26.6 million) for the period, 34.5% higher than the JPY 1,988.6 million recorded in 4Q FY2015. As a result, gross revenue for the full year ended 30 June 2016 of JPY9,581 million came in 25.5% higher than the JPY7,635 million reported in 2015.

“We are pleased that we have delivered yet another year of robust earnings underpinned by new acquisitions and positive rental reversions”, said Jim Chang, CEO of Croesus Retail Asset Management, in a statement on the results.

“Going forward, we believe we are in good stead to ride on Japan’s negative interest rate environment, taking advantage of the favourable rates for our growth journey ahead”, he added.

Croesus Retail Trust’s 11 properties across Japan recorded occupancy rates of between 93.5% and 100% for the quarter.

However the trust warned in its statement that the prolonged low interest rate environment in Japan has given rise to a more attractive Japanese currency and greater demand for Japanese real estate among both local and international buyers.

Units of Croesus Retail Trust are currently trading on the Singapore Exchange at SGD0.86.

By Ridzwan Rahmat

Ridzwan has been analysing REITs and business trusts since 2008, and personally manages a portfolio comprising mainly of SGX-listed REITs. He founded REITsWeek in 2013.