DATA centre-focused Keppel Data Centre (DC) Reit : AJBU 0% reported a marginal increase in first-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.2 per cent to S$0.02466, up from S$0.02462 a year earlier.
In its business update for the first-quarter ended Mar 31, the real-estate investment trust (Reit) posted a 1.4 per cent decline in net property income to S$60.1 million, down from S$61.0 million a year earlier. Gross revenue fell 0.9 per cent to S$66.1 million, down from S$66.7 million year-on-year.
Still, distributable income rose 5.9 per cent to S$44.5 million, from S$42.0 million the year before.
The Reit’s manager attributed this to recent acquisitions and investment in debt securities. These gains were partially offset by lower contributions from its Singapore assets as a result of provisions made for a client payment under dispute at its KDC Singapore 1 data centre as well as higher electricity costs.
KDC Singapore 1, the master lessee of the data centre, commenced legal proceedings against DXC Technology Services Singapore (DXC) last month over DXC's partial default of payment in relation to co-location services provided at the centre.
Despite this, KDC Reit’s manager noted that its portfolio occupancy remained high at 98.7 per cent with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) by leased area of 7.7 years. WALE by rental income stood at 5.1 years.
Additionally, its aggregate leverage as at Mar 31, 2022 stood at 36.1 per cent. The Reit’s manager also said that the Reit has a high interest coverage ratio of 10 times and low average cost of debt of 1.8 per cent as at Mar 31, 2022.
With rising energy costs, the Reit manager noted that a further 10 per cent increase in portfolio electricity costs would have an approximately 3 per cent impact on FY2021 DPU on a pro forma basis.
As for the impact of rising inflation, it noted that built-in income and rental escalations based on consumer price index or similar indexation, or fixed rate mechanisms will mitigate its effect.
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