MREIT payout doubled to P1.93B in third quarter
Megaworld Corp.-backed real estate investment trust MREIT Inc. more than doubled its third-quarter distributable income as newly-acquired properties boosted rental earnings, lifting its dividend payout.
On Monday, the property giant said its distributable income rose 106 percent year-on-year to P1.93 billion, while revenues climbed 90 percent to P2.71 billion.
The growth followed more than P43 billion in asset infusions under its fourth and fifth wave of transactions.
These nearly doubled MREIT’s gross leasable area to around 951,000 square meters (sq m) from 482,000 sq m.
Wave 4 was completed in the first quarter, while Wave 5 began contributing income on July 1.
For the first nine months, distributable income increased 58 percent to P4.42 billion. Revenues grew 48 percent to P6.13 billion.
Portfolio occupancy exceeded 90 percent, supporting recurring rental income alongside contributions from the additional properties.
MREIT declared a third-quarter cash dividend of P0.2762 per share, up 10 percent from P0.25048 a year earlier, and 5 percent from P0.263 in the second quarter.
The dividend will be paid on Nov. 20 to stockholders on record as of Nov. 10. This brings dividends attributable to the first nine months to P0.80215 per share.
The latest declaration represents a payout ratio of 91 percent and an annualized yield of 8.1 percent, based on MREIT’s Oct. 22 closing share price.
Wave 5 added five lifestyle malls: Festive Walk Mall, Lucky Chinatown Mall, Venice Grand Canal Mall, Eastwood Mall and Southwoods Mall.
The expanded portfolio spans nine Megaworld townships. Offices account for about 77 percent of gross leasable area, followed by retail at 20 percent and hotels at 3 percent.
“We committed to making each asset infusion translate into meaningful growth in dividends per share, and Waves 4 and 5 delivered on that commitment. This is how we intend to build consistent growth across successive infusion waves,” said MREIT president and CEO Jose Arnulfo Batac.
The company is evaluating assets at Megaworld’s Uptown Bonifacio estate for its Wave 6 infusion.
The properties, terms and timing remain subject to due diligence, valuation and corporate and regulatory approvals.
