Suntec REIT 3Q2020 Financial Results have been released on 22nd October 2020. Suntec REIT used to be my favorite REIT but I have since sold it away due to lacklustre performance.
Many of us are familiar with Suntec City Mall and thought that Suntec REIT is a pure retail REIT. Suntec REIT is a retail and office REIT. Its portfolio comprises of office and retail properties in Singapore and Australia.
How has COVID-19 impacted Suntec REIT? Let us take a look at the latest 3Q2020 financial results.
In 3Q2020, Gross Revenue and Net Property Income (“NPI”) fell by 13.4% and 19.0% respectively.
Distributable income fell by 12.6% due to rental assistance for tenants in Suntec City Mall, Marina Bay Link Mall and Southgate Complex Retail. The weakness was partially offset by better performance and contributions from its Australian office portfolio and better performance at One Raffles Quay.
As such, a distribution of 1.848 cents was declared. This was a drop of 21.9% as compared to 3Q2019.
Suntec REIT 3Q2020 Financial Results
| 3Q2020 (S$’mil) |
3Q2019 (S$’mil) |
YoY(%) | |
| Gross Revenue | 79.6 | 91.9 | (13.4) |
| Net Property Income | 47.3 | 58.4 | (19.0) |
| Distributable Amount | 52.2 | 59.7 | (12.6) |
| Distribution Per Unit (“DPU”) (cents) | 1.848 | 2.133 | (21.9) |
Occupancy
Singapore office portfolio occupancy stood at 92.9% with only 5.1% of the leases expiring in FY20. Only 2% office space remains vacant.
Suntec Office Passing Rent psf ($) also seems to be on the rise over the last few quarters which is a good sign.
Singapore retail portfolio occupancy stood at 93.4% with 12% of leases expiring in FY20. 6.6% remains vacant. Rental reversion was -9.4% which implies there is more supply and demand is low.
The Australia office portfolio occupancy stood at 94.0% with only 0.5% of the leases expiring. 6.1% is vacant.
Debt
As of 30th September 2020, the gearing ratio stood at 41.5%. In my opinion, this is considered high as compared the debt by other similar REITs.
Weighted Average Debt Maturity stood at 3.09 years.
Current Dividend Yield
Based on the current share price of S$1.46 and FY19 full year DPU of 9.507 cents, this translate to a current dividend yield of 6.51%.
The actual FY20 full year DPU might be lower as we can also see DPU has fallen significantly over the last few quarters.
Summary
Income contribution to Suntec REIT is expected to be significantly affected for FY20. I am less worried about the Singapore office portfolio as passing rent seems to be consistently improving and occupancy remains high. The Australia office portfolio looks weak with only 94.0% committed occupancy. In my opinion, 6% offices are vacant which is worrying.
At tough times like this, I am surprised by the proposed acquisition as this adds on more debt. The manager has proposed the acquisition of 50.0% interest in Nova North, Nova South and The Nova Building, comprising two high quality multi-tenanted office buildings with ancillary retail development.
Nova properties has a 100% committed occupancy with long weighted average lease expiry of 11.1 years.
The property has a Net Property Income (“NPI”) yield of 4.6% with estimated DPU accretion of 3.4%.
Is the manager trying to make up for the poor financial performance of its Singapore retail portfolio by calling this proposed acquisition in hope that the NPI and DPU can offset the decline?
The risk of investing into Suntec REIT seems high given the high gearing ratio and proposed acquisition that will add on more debt. Full year DPU under normal times had not seen any significantly increase.
Nevertheless if you can withstand the risks and bet on the recovery of its retail and office assets, this is a good time to buy given the weakness in share price.
I love shopping at Suntec City Mall but I shall give it this REIT a miss and road to recovery seems long!