AREIT’s income grew 60% in first three months

AREIT Inc., the pioneering real estate investment trust launched by Ayala Land Inc. said Friday it posted a net income of P403 million in the first quarter, up by 60 percent from a year ago, driven by stable operations and the contribution of newly-acquired assets.

It said that with a high occupancy rate of 99 percent and strong 95-percent collection rate, total revenues reached P608 million, up 52 percent year-on-year.

“AREIT’s first-quarter performance was marked by significant growth and business resilience. This is driven by the quality and stability of our properties as well as the addition of new assets to our portfolio. Our focus is to ensure that our business operations are optimized and that the company is positioned for growth,” said AREIT president and chief executive Carol Mills.

AREIT acquired in January The 30th, a 75,000-square-meter commercial development in Pasig City and 98,000 sq. m. of land at Laguna Technopark leased by Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. for its manufacturing business.  

It said that along with the acquisition of the Teleperformance Cebu building in October 2020, these properties boosted AREIT’s income in the first quarter and increased its gross leasable space to 344,000 sq. m. and assets under management to P37 billion.

The company’s expansion activities continued in April as AREIT secured the approval of stockholders to increase its authorized capital stock from P11.7 billion to P29.5 billion, along with the infusion of P15.5 billion worth of commercial assets from sponsor Ayala Land in exchange for 483 million shares during its first annual stockholders’ meeting.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the second half of the year. This will further grow AREIT’s gross leasable space to 549,000 sq. m. and AUM to P52 billion.

AREIT said it closed the quarter with a net gearing of 0.35:1, maintaining a strong balance sheet to support its future growth plans.