CapitaMalls payout higher than forecast

Published: 2011/01/22

CAPITAMALLS Malaysia Trust (CMMT), the country's largest pure-play shopping mall property trust, says it will pay out slightly higher dividends for 2010 than anticipated.

CMMT, which was listed on Bursa Malaysia last July, achieved a distributable income of RM45.9 million for the financial period from July 14 to December 31 last year, as compared to its forecast in its listing prospectus of RM45 million.

It plans to pay out the whole sum, which brings its dividend per unit (DPU) for that financial period to 3.4 sen as compared to the 3.33 sen it forecast in the prospectus.

On an annualised basis, the DPU stood at 7.26 sen, which is higher than the 7.16 sen it had forecast. Unitholders can expect to receive their first distribution of 3.4 sen per unit on February 25.

Sharon Lim, chief executive officer of the trust's manager CapitaRetail Malaysia REIT Management Sdn Bhd, said she was confident CMMT will achieve its forecast DPU of 7.45 sen, as stated in its prospectus.

CMMT made a net profit of RM109.4 million in the last financial period. There were no comparative figures for the previous year as the company was set up last year.

CMMT's portfolio includes Gurney Plaza in Penang, an interest in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and The Mines in Selangor.

"With our quality portfolio of three strategically located shopping malls in the higher-growth urban centres of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, CMMT is well positioned to capitalise on the expansion in Malaysia's retail sector," Kee Teck Koon, chairman of CapitaRetail, said in a press statement yesterday.

Lim said the malls were close to full occupancy, with shopper traffic growing by 16.2 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year ago. This year, CMMT expects to complete its proposed purchase of the Gurney Plaza extension.

Its sponsor CapitaMalls Asia Ltd's recent purchase of Queensbay Mall in Penang will form the seed asset for its planned RM1 billion Malaysia retail property fund, she said, adding that this will provide a pipeline of assets for CMMT to acquire.

CMMT also said yesterday that its trustee, AmTrustee Bhd, had done a revaluation for all its properties and that their value stood at RM2.14 billion as at the end of last year, instead of RM2.13 billion.