Mapletree Industrial Trust posts 4.7% fall in Q1 DPU to S$0.0327

[SINGAPORE] Mapletree Industrial Trust’s (MIT) distribution per unit (DPU) fell 4.7 per cent to 3.27 Singapore cents for its first quarter ended Jun 30, 2025, from 3.43 cents the year before.

Nevertheless, revenue was up 0.3 per cent at S$175.9 million for the quarter, from S$175.3 million in the year-earlier period.

This was due to revenue contributions from the freehold mixed-use facility in Tokyo acquired in October 2024; the completion of the final phase of fitting-out works of its Osaka Data Centre; as well as new leases and renewals across various Singapore property clusters, its manager said on Monday (Jul 28).

Its DPU in the previous year also included net divestment gains from its Tanglin Halt properties. Excluding the divestment gain, FY2025/26’s Q1 DPU of 3.27 cents would have been down 1.5 per cent.

Net property income grew 0.8 per cent on the year to S$133.6 million for the quarter, from S$132.5 million.

But distribution to unitholders fell 4.1 per cent on year to S$93.3 million, largely due to the lower cash distribution declared by its joint venture, Mapletree Rosewood Data Centre Trust, due to higher borrowing costs from the repricing of matured interest rate swaps.

The distribution will be paid out on Sep 8, 2025, after books closure on Aug 5.

Lily Ler, chief executive of the manager, noted that the data centre sector continues to be a key pillar of its growth, amid surging demand driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

“To this end, our expansion plan into Europe and Asia-Pacific will be a key area of growth as we rebalance our portfolio for resilience,” she said.

MIT saw positive rental reversions for its Singapore portfolio and higher revenue contributions from its Japan portfolio, Ler noted.

Meanwhile, it is focused on active asset management “with efforts underway to backfill vacancies and explore alternative use” in North America, she said.

From Apr 1, MIT also reclassified its portfolio to better reflect its portfolio composition and sharpen its focus on growing the data centres, and hi-tech buildings and business space segments.

Average overall portfolio occupancy was 91.4 per cent in Q1, down from the previous quarter’s 91.6 per cent.

The weighted average lease to expiry of its overall portfolio increased on quarter to 4.5 years, from 4.4 years, mainly due to the long-term renewal lease for 35 Tai Seng Street.

Looking ahead, the manager expects distributions will be weighed by increasing property operating expenses, higher borrowing costs from the repricing of maturing interest rate swaps and the downward trending US dollar.

It will undertake strategic divestments in North America and Singapore to boost MIT’s financial flexibility and redeploy capital into markets and assets that can provide sustainable growth, it said.

Units of MIT closed 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$2.07 on Monday, before the results were posted.