Ascendas Hospitality Trust NPI inched up 5.2% to $21.3m in Q1

Income was boosted by contributions from five hotel acquisitions made in 2018.

Ascendas Hospitality Trust’s net property income (NPI) climbed 5.2% to $21.3m in Q1 from $20.2m in 2018, thanks to the full-quarter contribution from the five hotels acquired in the previous financial year.

However, its gross revenue in the same period dipped 3.6% to $46.5m after revenues from its China operations plummeted 100%. The decline was also attributed to the master lease arrangements for the new hotels in Korea and Japan.

Its distributable income and distribution per stapled security (DPS) for the period also went down 4.8% YoY to $15.6m and 5.2% YoY to $0.013, respectively. This was mainly due to the absence of partial distribution of proceeds from the divestment of Novotel Beijing Sanyuan and ibis Beijing Sanyuan of $1.8m made in the corresponding quarter in 2018.

In addition, its business in Australia saw an NPI decline of $0.3m, mainly attributable to unfavourable foreign exchange movement ($0.5m). However, it was partially offset by a refund of prior year land tax surcharge of $0.7m received in Q1.

In Japan, Sunroute Ariake’s performance was in line with last year whilst Namba Hotel’s performance was slightly muted due to new hotel supply in Osaka. With the acquisition of WBF East and WBF West last September 2018 and WBF Honmachi in December 2018, these three hotels have contributed $1.4m of earnings for Q1 to the Japan portfolio.

Meanwhile, Splaisir Dongdaemun and ibis Insadong hotels in Korea also contributed to the group earnings following its acquisition in May 2018 and December 2018 respectively. The firm’s income in Singapore from Park Hotel Clarke Quay was also said to be in line with last year.

On a full-year basis, the NPI contribution from the five hotels are expected to exceed the FY2017/18 full-year NPI contribution from the Beijing hotels.