Source : Business Times - 1 May 2008
CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) has announced income available for distribution of $23.6 million for Q1 2008, a 91.5 per cent increase over the corresponding quarter last year.
CDLHT, a stapled group comprising CDL Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (H-Reit) and CDL Hospitality Business Trust (HBT), said income available for distribution per stapled security for the quarter rose 63.4 per cent year-on-year to 2.86 cents or 11.50 cents on an annualised basis.
Citing the 6.6 per cent year-on-year increase in visitor arrivals to Singapore in the first quarter of 2008, Vincent Yeo, CEO of M&C Reit Management Ltd, the manager of H-Reit, said: ‘As Singapore’s largest hotel owner by number of rooms, we are well positioned to take advantage of the very robust demand for transient accommodation in Singapore.’
Gross revenue for the quarter of $27.9 million was 55.1 per cent higher while net property income was $26.1 million, up 55.8 per cent.
Average occupancy rate for H-Reit’s Singapore hotels - Orchard Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, M Hotel, Copthorne King’s Hotel and Novotel Clarke Quay - actually fell marginally by 0.2 percentage points to 84.4 per cent.
However, Mr Yeo said this was more a function of the Reit manager, ‘managing for RevPar (room revenue per available room) growth’.
Mr Yeo also revealed that its market mix had changed with more business being contracted through corporate clients.
Indeed, RevPar increased by 37.7 per cent from $151 in Q1′07 to $208 in Q1′08.
Average daily rate (ADR) of $247 was 38 per cent higher compared to the same period a year ago.
The Singapore Tourism Board’s figures for gazetted hotels here in March show that the average room rate was estimated at $238, while the average occupancy rate was estimated at 87 per cent.
Mr Yeo said that it was also on track to make its forecast annual acquisitions of $200-$300 million.
In the quarter, Mr Yeo said that six of the 24 extended stay suites at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel were completed and the hotel has received positive responses from potential guests during the pre-marketing phase. All the suites will be launched officially by the end of this month.
Mr Yeo also added that ’service apartments are within its ambit’, and he would not discount the possibility of acquiring a service apartment in the future.
At the end of yesterday’s trading, CDLHT’s unit price rose 6 cents to close at $1.92 per unit.
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