CapitaMall Trust 3Q2020 Financial Results have been released on 22nd October 2020. CapitaMall Trust makes up 9.70% of my stock portfolio. During the stock market crash, I have added more of CapitaMall Trust given my confidence in CapitaMall Trust.
How is CapitaMall Trust coping with the COVID-19 recovery? Let us take a look at the latest 3Q2020 financial results.
In 3Q 2020, CapitaMall Trust’s Gross Revenue and Net Property Income (“NPI”) decreased by 25.3% and 27.6% year-on-year respectively. This was mainly due to rental waivers of S$29.5 million granted by CapitaMall Trust to tenants affected by COVID-19, as well as lower other income and rental on gross turnover.
CapitaMall Trust also released S$36.4 million, part of the S$46.4 million of taxable income available for distribution retained in 1H 2020 to Unitholders. In 3Q 2019, CapitaMall Trust released S$1.5 million of its taxable income available for distribution retained in 1H 2019 to Unitholders.
In terms of operational performance, rental reversion fell 4.4%. Shopper traffic declined much as 40.4%. With less shopper traffic, it is inevitable that tenant sales per square foot fell 13.9%.
CapitaMall Trust 3Q2020 Financial Results
| 3Q2020 (S$’000) |
3Q2019 (S$’000) |
YoY(%) | |
| Gross Revenue | 150,277 | 201,111 | (25.3) |
| Net Property Income | 104,449 | 144,222 | (27.6) |
| Distributable Amount | 114,294 | 112,973 | 1.2 |
| Distribution Per Unit (“DPU”) (cents) | 3.10 | 3.06 | 1.3 |
Occupancy
As of 30th September 2020, the average portfolio occupancy stood healthy at 98.0%.
Debt
As of 30th September 2020, the gearing ratio stood at 34.4%. 100% of CapitaMall Trust’s assets remain unencumbered.
Current Dividend Yield
Based on the historical payout of 11.97 cents in FY19 and current share price of S$1.89, this translates to a current dividend yield of 6.33%.
Year to date September 2020, DPU of 6.06 cents have been paid as compared to 8.86 cents (YTD September 2019). Investors should expect the FY20 full year DPU to be lower due to the impact of COVID-19.
Summary
The merger between CapitaMall and CapitaLand Commercial Trust was approved on 29th September 2020. CapitaLand Commercial Trust will be delisted on 3rd November 2020 and CapitaMall Trust will be renamed to CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust.
Based on the latest operational performance and 3Q2020 financial results, the headwinds due to COVID-19 can be deeply felt. Cautious consumer sentiment was evidenced by the muted retail sales in August. Even though CapitaMall has embarked on omnichannel retailing, there is still much to do as online sales as a proportion of total retail sales was only 10.9% in August 2020.
At current dividend yield of 6.33%, this is still deemed attractive to me if you are intending to hold CapitaMall Trust for the longer term. I doubt DPU will recover in the short term since many COVID-19 restrictions are still in placed and international borders remained closed.
Now, the magic question. Can you buy CapitaMall Trust now?
I will advice to buy in small lots because COVID-19 has changed the way we live our lives such as shopping and dining. CapitaMall Trust is still an excellent REIT to invest in given the excellent location of its suburban malls.
I am betting on the recovery of the retail sector.