PETALING JAYA: The net profit of Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) more than doubled in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021, mainly due to contributions from newly acquired properties and positive rental reversion.
In a filing with the stock exchange yesterday, Axis-REIT said its net profit increased to RM99.98mil from RM49.27mil in the previous corresponding quarter.
Revenue, on the other hand, rose 9.44% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM62.94mil in the latest fourth quarter from RM57.51mil.
Axis-REIT’s earnings per unit (EPU) for the quarter under review was 6.86 sen. A distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.41 sen was announced for the quarter.
Cumulatively, for the full financial year of 2021 (FY21), the trust recorded a net profit of RM200.36mil, representing an increase of 41.04% y-o-y from RM142.06mil.
Revenue for the 12-month period improved by 7.77% y-o-y to RM242.41mil from RM224.94mil.
This was mainly attributed to the completion of five new acquisitions, the commencement of new tenancies at Axis Industrial Facility @ Rawang and positive rental reversion in FY21.
The five property acquisitions amounted to a total of RM223.2mil, raising Axis-REIT’s total investment properties value to RM3.6bil.
Axis-REIT’s management company, Axis Reit Managers Bhd, said its active acquisition strategy continued to be the key to its success.
Axis Reit Managers chief executive officer and executive director Leong Kit May pointed out that the property portfolio had grown from five properties to 58 properties since Axis-REIT’s listing in 2005.
Meanwhile, the total asset value rose about 10-fold to RM3.8bil currently.
“Moving forward, we will continue to pursue high-quality accretive acquisitions with strong recurring rental income by leveraging on our healthy gearing level of 31%, to deliver sustainable EPU and DPU payout to our unitholders,” stated Leong in a statement yesterday.
In a separate filing to Bursa Malaysia, Axis- REIT announced that it had secured Shopee Express Malaysia Sdn Bhd, an e-commerce operator, to lease the entire Bukit Raja Distribution Centre 2 (BRDC 2), upon completion of the proposed development of BRDC 2.
The lease is for a period of 15 years.
The proposed development entails the construction of a single-storey warehouse and ancillary buildings, enhancement of an existing three-storey office block with a total gross built-up area of approximately 620,096 square feet.
Development work is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2022 and is to be completed for handover to Shopee Express by Aug 31, 2023.
“The estimated development cost (excluding land) of this proposed development is approximately RM130mil.
“This is equivalent to 3.9% of Axis-REIT’s FY20 total asset value of RM3.4bil,” Axis-REIT said.
It is noteworthy that the acquisition of BRDC 2 by Axis-REIT was completed on March 31, 2021.
