MREIT Inc., the real estate investment trust of listed property developer Megaworld Corp., said Wednesday it posted distributable income of P1.4 billion in the first half of the year, up 12 percent year-on-year on account of double-digit growth in revenue.
Total first half revenue increased by 15 percent to P2.1 billion boosted largely by the four newly-acquired Grade-A office towers worth P5.3-billion, which began contributing to MREIT’s income starting January .
Just recently, MREIT declared cash dividends of P0.2476 per share to its shareholders. The dividends will be payable beginning 14 September to shareholders on record as of 23 August.
Dividends in the first half of the year total P0.4952 per share.
Annualized, this brings MREIT’s dividend yield to 7.1 percent as of the closing share price of P13.86 per share on 8 August.
MREIT said its various properties enjoy an average occupancy rate of 96 percent as of end-June.
The broader office industry segment posted average occupancy rate of 82 percent in Metro Manila.
Of the total occupied space of MREIT properties, 79 percent are BPO tenants while 15 percent are traditional office tenants.
“Our assets continue to deliver despite the excess supply faced by the office industry. We believe the challenges are only temporary and MREIT is ready to capture the coming demand of a recovering office sector as tenants transition back from the work-from-home setup to hybrid or even a full return-to-office setup,” said Kevin Tan, president and chief executive officer at MREIT.
Earlier, MREIT signed a deal for the potential acquisition of several grade A office assets with a total gross leasable area of around 150,500 square meters. Once the acquisition is completed, this will increase the GLA of MREIT’s total portfolio by 46 percent to 475,500 square meters. It already owns 18 office buildings.
“Our high occupancy rate and growing BPO tenant base provide us the foundation for a stable organic growth outlook. In addition, our recently announced asset pipeline will significantly grow MREIT’s assets under management, helping us achieve our vision of growing MREIT into a leading REIT in the country and delivering meaningful growth to our shareholders,” added Tan.
