SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – CDL Hospitality Trusts’ (CDLHT) distribution per stapled security (DPS) for the second half of 2020 declined by 29.2 per cent to 3.44 Singapore cents, from 4.86 cents a year ago.
Gross revenue was down 36.5 per cent to $65.5 million for the six months ended Dec 31, 2020, from $103.1 million the year before. Meanwhile, net property income (NPI) sank 46.2 per cent to $39.6 million for the same period, from $73.6 million a year ago.
The managers said the Covid-19 crisis continued to have a profound impact on CDLHT’s overall performance, severely affecting its hospitality and conference businesses.
Most of the stapled hospitality group’s hotels were operating at mid to low occupancies, except for five Singapore hotels and one New Zealand hotel which were supported by demand for accommodation facilities used for isolation purposes.
Although there was inorganic NPI contribution from the W Hotel acquisition in July 2020, the absence of contribution from the divested NCQ and Novotel Brisbane more than offset the NPI contribution.
Substantive contributions to portfolio revenue from the Singapore, New Zealand and Australia hotels, which amounted to $47.8 million, partially insulated the group from the severe effects of the pandemic, the managers noted.
For H2 2020, total distribution to stapled securityholders after retention stood at $42.1 million, down 28.7 per cent from $59 million the year prior. The distribution will be paid out on Feb 26, after books closure on Feb 8.
Meanwhile, for the full year ended Dec 31, 2020, DPS tumbled 45.1 per cent to 4.95 Singapore cents, versus 9.02 cents a year ago, while distributable income after retention dropped 44.8 per cent to $60.4 million. Gross revenue was 40.3 per cent lower at $117.6 million, while NPI halved to $69.3 million for the full year.
Vincent Yeo, chief executive of CDLHT’s managers, noted that with the commencement towards travel normalcy activated by the availability of the vaccines, it will still take time before mass travel is likely to resume in full force.
“Nonetheless, as we move towards a recovery, we believe that countries which have demonstrated strong ability to contain the situation, such as Singapore, are likely to rank among the top choice for travel and MICE events,” he said.
Stapled securities of CDLHT were trading $0.03 or 2.5 per cent higher at $1.22 as at 10.35am on Friday.