KUALA LUMPUR: KIP Real Estate Investment Trust (KIP REIT) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter (Q4FY2023) and full year ended June 30, 2023, today.
For the quarter under review, KIP REIT registered a gross revenue of RM22.4 million, which translated to an increase of 16.5% as compared to RM19.2 million in the preceding year’s corresponding quarter (Q4FY2022).
Net property income (NPI) rose by 14.3% to RM16.2 million in Q4FY2023 from RM14.2 million in Q4FY2022. KIP REIT further reported a 7.9 % year-on-year increase in realised profit after tax (PAT) to RM10.2 million in Q4FY2023 while income available for distribution for the quarter remained steady at RM10.5 million. The higher PAT was a result of the contribution from its 3 industrial properties and higher occupancy rate for retail.
The revenue split between the investment properties in the retail and industrial segment was 94.3% and 5.7% respectively. For the retail segment, the Southern region remained as the highest revenue contributor to KIP REIT, whereby the three malls located in the Southern region reported gross revenue of RM10.5 million or 46.7% of the total revenue.
In addition, the Central region’s three malls recorded revenue of RM6.2 million or 27.8%. KIP REIT’s sole mall in the Northern region clocked in RM4.4 million or 19.8% of the total revenue.
For the full year, KIP REIT posted gross revenue of RM83.8 million, an increase of 13.6% in comparison to the previous year’s RM73.7 million. The increase was largely due to 6.5 months of lease income from KIP REIT’s 3 industrial properties which were added to the portfolio in December 2022. NPI and realised PAT clocked in at RM62.2 million and RM37.7 million, which translated to an increase of 9.5% and 4.6% respectively.
In addition, the total income available for distribution of RM38.8 million was a commendable 3.8% higher, as compared to RM37.3 million a year ago.
Based on an annual revaluation by independent registered valuers, KIP REIT recorded a RM23.1 million gain in the fair value across its investment properties.
Commenting on the results, KIP REIT CEO Valerie Ong Pui Shan said, “I am pleased to have closed off our 2023 financial year on a strong note. It has turned out to be an eventful financial year for us, with the highlight being our maiden venture into the industrial space. With that said, the retail segment will continue to be the driving force for KIP REIT and we will not rest on our laurels. Our retail properties have seen extremely encouraging occupancy rates of over 90% which proofed that we are attracting the right shopper and tenant mix. Including the food and beverage sector as well as beauty, health and wellness stores, more than a third of KIPMalls’ tenants are in the non-discretionary services – it is therefore unsurprising to see our malls being a crowd-puller as we cater to the consumers’ evolving shopping behaviour.
We will complete our asset enhancement initiatives (AEI) at KIPMall Bangi by this year and will kickstart plans to begin AEI at our other KIPMalls to ensure our tenants and shoppers experience a comfortable shopping environment. Looking ahead, we are especially excited to welcome KIPMall Kota Warisan into our portfolio. This will increase our asset portfolio to 11 when the acquisition completes by the first quarter of the 2024 calendar year. “
The Manager of KIP REIT has proposed a final income distribution of RM10.61 million, translating to 1.75 sen per unit, which includes a non-taxable portion of approximately 0.97 sen per unit derived from capital allowances and tax-exempt income. The book closure is fixed for August 8, 2023 and payment of the proposed income distribution will be made on August 29, 2023. Based on the closing price of RM0.90 on
July 24, 2023, the trailing twelve months’ distribution per unit gives a yield of approximately 6.90%.
