George Hongchoy, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, Link REIT
Link REIT, Asia’s largest property trust by market cap, posted a loss of HK$2.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2024, as valuation markdowns on its investment properties overshadowed an 11 percent annual increase in revenue.
The HKEX-listed trust booked revenue of HK$13.6 billion for the fiscal year, boosted by full year contributions from its Singaporean and Australian retail assets as well as mainland Chinese logistics properties, while net property income grew 9.5 percent year-on-year to HK$10.1 billion.
“We are delighted to report another set of resilient results, especially in the context of various continuing headwinds,” Nicholas Allen, chairman of the trust’s manager Link Asset Management Limited said in a release on Wednesday. “Benefits of diversification were apparent in the year under review where the uplifted return in our overseas portfolios was counter-cyclical to those in Hong Kong and Mainland China.”
Link REIT, which managed a portfolio of retail, office and logistics properties worth HK$242 billion as of March, maintained 98.0 percent occupancy across its core Hong Kong retail assets, with that portfolio’s 7.9 percent positive average rental reversion contributing to the segment’s 2.2 percent revenue growth during the year.
Diversification Benefits
The trust pointed to its international portfolio, which comprises 12 retail and office assets across Singapore, Australia and the UK, as helping to buffer underperformance within its Hong Kong and mainland Chinese office properties.
Link REIT chairman Nicholas Allen
With Link REIT adding full year contributions from the Jurong Point and Swing By @ Thomson Plaza shopping centres in Singapore, revenue for the listed trust’s international portfolio increased 168.8 percent to HK$1.7 billion while net property income jumped 204.6 percent to HK$1.2 billion. That pair of Singapore properties registered overall occupancy of 97.8 percent and positive average rental reversions of 9.6 percent during the year.
“Our disciplined approach in pursuing portfolio growth and diversification has undoubtedly placed us in a defensive position. A strong balance sheet has also afforded us opportunities to pursue growth inorganically, amid a challenging market environment where investments are repricing,” said Allen.
Revenue and net property income at Link REIT’s mainland Chinese portfolio grew 6.3 percent and 10.6 percent respectively in renminbi terms, driven by improved performance for its retail assets, which saw positive average rental reversions of 2.8 percent during the year.
Link REIT also benefited from full year earnings from a pair of logistics assets acquired in 2022, and looks forward to more mainland revenue after agreeing in February to take full ownership of the Qibao Vanke Plaza mall in Shanghai, by acquiring the 50 percent stake then held by joint venture partner China Vanke.
Office properties stood out as the trust’s weakest asset class during the year, with Link REIT’s Link Square office towers in Shanghai recording 10.2 percent negative rental reversion during the year, while occupancy within its international office portfolio declined to 89.2 percent from 90.0 percent a year ago.
Valuation Markdowns
Link REIT took a HK$7.4 billion hit on valuation markdowns during the year after the value of its investment properties declined 0.6 percent year-on-year to HK$236 billion, which the trust attributed to cap rate expansions and foreign currency depreciation against the Hong Kong dollar.
The markdowns were primarily driven by the trust’s office portfolio, with valuations of Link REIT’s office assets in the UK, mainland China, Australia and Hong Kong posting year-on-year declines of 28.2 percent, 17.9 percent, 17.4 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively.
The trust expects the current fiscal year’s outlook to remain “challenging and complex”, and plans to bolster its growth strategy through organic and inorganic initiatives including launching its fund management platform and evaluating accretive acquisition opportunities, with the trust noting that it is following repricing trends in the region.
“To pursue our next phase of growth, we are working hard to expand our investment capabilities to manage diverse sources of capital and invest in a wider range of investment opportunities while minimising our cost of capital and maintaining robust risk management,” said George Hongchoy, chief executive of Link Asset Management Limited. “We have been strengthening our bench with a few strategic additions to our management team and the board to get ourselves ready for the new journey.”
Separately, Link REIT on Wednesday announced the appointment of Barry David Brakey as an independent non-executive director and a member of the trust’s finance and investment committee and the remuneration committee.
Brakey serves as a managing partner of CC Real International, a Vienna-based real estate investment manager. He also is non-executive chairman of Sydney-based real estate debt investor Madigan Capital, as well as a non-executive director of Mirvac Funds Management Australia, a unit of ASX-listed property developer and investor Mirvac Group.
Investors applauded Link REIT’s results despite the loss, with the trust’s units closing on Wednesday with a 3.7 percent gain.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : MingTiandi – https://www.mingtiandi.com/real-estate/finance/link-reit-books-hk2-5b-loss-on-markdowns-revenue-up-11/
