AREIT Inc., the country’s first real estate investment trust, said Friday it posted a net income of P844 million in the first nine months, driven by the stable operations of its office leasing portfolio.
AREIT said in a disclosure to the stock exchange total revenues amounted to P1.4 billion, while earnings-before-interest, tax, depreciation and amortization reached P1.1 billion on stable occupancy and operating efficiency.
The company said the acquisition of McKinley Exchange in February 2020 and a higher occupancy rate at Ayala North Exchange boosted the company’s rental income to P1.1 billion, up by 9 percent from same period in 2019.
“AREIT’s fundamentals remain strong and resilient, keeping its financial performance on track. We are also expanding our portfolio of leasing assets to seed the company’s future growth,” said AREIT president Carol Mills.
After its maiden share offering in August, AREIT acquired the Cebu Teleperformance building in September as it continued to bolster its growing portfolio with value-accretive assets.
On Oct. 22, the company’s board of directors approved the acquisition of The 30th, a 76,000-square-meter commercial development along Meralco Ave. in Pasig City for P5.1 billion.
The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the first quarter of 2021 and will increase AREIT’s gross leasable area to 246,000 sqm.
The 30th is a commercial development that was planned and developed by Ayala Land and completed in 2017. It is occupied mostly by companies in business process outsourcing. The 30th includes an amenity retail podium which will be operated and leased by Ayala Land from AREIT.
To ensure a stable growth pipeline, the company reported plans to raise up to P6.4 billion in debt and/or retail bonds and establish short-term credit facilities with banks amounting to P12 billion which can be deployed for future acquisitions.
AREIT distributed to shareholders its first cash dividends at P0.59 per share last month, reflecting income from its first-half operations.
AREIT shareholders are entitled to receive dividends of at least 90 percent of the company’s distributable income every year.