Comments
Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust), a Singapore-based business trust focused on property investment in India, on Wednesday reported a 12 per cent year-on-year drop in third quarter net income to Singapore$17 million.
The decline reported by the Trustee-Manager of a-iTrust was due to a retrospective increase in electricity tariffs at the International Tech Park in Bangalore (ITPB) and lower- than-usual property expenses due to the reversal of a doubtful debt provision.
a-iTrust’s distributable income for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, was 7 per cent lower year-on-year at Singapore$13.2 million, said its Singapore parent group, Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Trustee-Manager, Mr Jonathan Yap, said: “We are pleased to report that the occupancy rate of a-iTrust’s existing portfolio remains strong and ended the quarter at 98 per cent.”
In addition, a-iTrust’s operating portfolio expanded by 25 per cent, or 1.2 million square feet, in December, 2010, with the completion of Park Square, a retail mall in ITPB, and Zenith, an IT multi-tenant building (MTB) at the International Tech Park Chennai (ITPC).
Park Square not only increases a-iTrust’s income stream, but also offers additional retail and food options in ITPB.
Furthermore, Voyager - the first building within ITPB’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) - will add another 0.5 million sq ft to a-iTrust’s portfolio when completed in the middle of 2011.
“As always, we remain active in exploring expansion opportunities, be it via additional development or third-party acquisitions, with the aim to continually provide yield accretion to unit holders,” said Mr Yap.
He said a-iTrust’s portfolio of 5.94 million sq ft of completed space is fairly evenly distributed between Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
About 1.2 million sq ft was recently completed in December, 2010, namely Park Square (a 450,000-sq ft retail mall in ITPB) and Zenith (a 742,000-sq ft IT MTB in ITPC).
Going forward, a-iTrust has proposed to develop about 1.7 million sq ft of new space, he said. A further 2.5 million sq ft of space could be developed within the portfolio, which is largely within the SEZ in ITPB, Mr Yap said in a financial statement issued in Singapore.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.