CREIT income up 12% on gains from land acquisitions

Tycoon Edgar Saavedra’s Citicore Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT) saw its earnings increase by 12 percent to P693.41 million in the first half, thanks to added income from recently acquired land assets.

In a disclosure Monday, the company said revenues during the period also realized a 15-percent jump to P920.85 million, mainly driven by the new parcels of land purchased using the proceeds from its green bond offering early last year.

These land assets, stretched across Batangas, Pampanga and Pangasinan, are now being leased for projects currently under construction. The firm said the properties were ideal for solar power plants as they were near the grid operator’s substation.

The company also declared dividends amounting to P0.049 per share, which will be payable on Oct. 4 for shareholders on record as of Sept. 10.

“CREIT has sustained the delivery of attractive dividends each quarter, driven by growing lease revenues and strategic asset acquisitions aligned with Citicore Renewables’ project pipeline,” said Oliver Y. Tan, president and chief executive.

“This approach underscores the resilience of our [real estate investment trust or REIT] strategy, enabling the company to continually acquire value-accretive assets and closely align CREIT’s growth with that of its sponsor, CREC,” he added.