Monday 27 January 2014

Suntec Reit

OCBC on 24 Jan 2014

Suntec REIT’s 4Q13 results exceeded both market and our expectations. Going forward, we understand that management will continue to focus on forward renewal of its office leases. With only 12.5% of its office leases due to expire in 2014, we believe the office segment will remain robust. Suntec REIT also updated that Phase 2 AEI is on track for completion in 1Q14, and that pre-commitment for the retail space has reached 97.0%, up from 83.7% in 3Q. While bottomline may experience a dip in 1Q as Phase 3 tenants vacate for the last phase of AEI, we continue to be overall positive on its longer-term potential, arising from 1) strong rental uplift at Suntec City, 2) earnings accretion from 177-199 Pacific Highway acquisition and 3) potential interest savings post refinancing of its S$773.5m club loan due in 2014. We maintain BUY with unchanged fair value of S$1.90 on Suntec REIT.

Significant recovery post Phase 1 AEI
Suntec REIT’s 4Q13 results exceeded both market and our expectations. NPI came in at S$49.8m, representing a 62.9% jump YoY, due to the opening of Phase 1 retail space of Suntec City Mall (SCM) and Suntec Singapore post AEI. Distributable income from operations also saw a 3.4% increase YoY to S$54.2m. Amid the recovery in performance, management utilized a smaller amount of S$4.0m from CHIJMES sale proceeds for capital distribution (3Q13: S$4.5m, FY13: S$19.0m). Nevertheless, this helped to boost the quarterly DPU up by 10.1% YoY to 2.562 S cents. As such, FY13 DPU amounted to 9.328 S cents, just a tad lower than FY12 DPU of 9.49 S cents but ahead of both ours and consensus forecast of 9.1 S cents.

Continued improvement in operational metrics
Contribution from the retail segment continued to climb, reaching 39% of gross revenue in 4Q13 versus 34% seen a quarter ago. However, the retail revenue was still 10.2% lower YoY due to the ongoing AEI of Phase 2 SCM. Suntec Singapore, we note, contributed S$18.2m from just S$0.5m in 4Q12. In addition, office segment registered a sustained growth of 3.8% YoY due to positive rental reversions, consistent with our positive view on the office market. Notably, rental rate for leases secured at Suntec City Office again improved QoQ at S$8.65 psf pm (3Q: S$8.55). Going forward, we understand that management will continue to focus on forward renewal of its office leases. With only 12.5% of its office leases due to expire in 2014, we thus believe the office segment will remain robust.

Maintain BUY
Suntec REIT also updated that Phase 2 AEI is on track for completion in 1Q14, and that pre-commitment for the retail space has reached 97.0%, up from 83.7% in 3Q. While bottomline may experience a dip in 1Q as Phase 3 tenants vacate for the last phase of AEI, we continue to be overall positive on its longer-term potential, arising from 1) strong rental uplift at Suntec City, 2) earnings accretion from 177-199 Pacific Highway acquisition and 3) potential interest savings post refinancing of its S$773.5m club loan due in 2014. We maintain BUY with unchanged fair value of S$1.90 on Suntec REIT.

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