Resurgence in Covid-19 cases to impact retail recovery

CapitaLand Malaysia Mall REIT Management (CMRM) Sdn Bhd, the manager of CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust (CMMT) says the resurgence in Covid-19 cases is expected to impact Malaysia’s retail recovery.

CMRM chairman David Wong said the firm is making efforts to stabilise CMMT’s portfolio through proactive asset and lease management to build greater resilience in the retail ecosystem.

The firm’s chief executive officer Low Peck Chen said with most of its tenants having resumed operations since June 2020, shopper traffic and tenant sales per square foot for the first nine months of 2020 have recovered to about 58 per cent and 82 per cent, respectively, of last year’s levels.

CMMT’s retail portfolio comprises Gurney Plaza, East Coast Mall (Penang), Sungei Wang, The Mines, and 3 Damansara in Klang Valley.

Its office portfolio comprises Tropicana City office tower in Petaling Jaya.

CMMT recorded a net property income of RM40.8 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020 (Q3 2020), as versus to RM49.19 million recorded in the same period last year.

Net profit fell to RM26.22 million for Q3 2020 as compared with RM28.4 million achieved in Q3 2019.

The decline in earnings was mainly attributed to higher vacancies and the rental relief granted to affected tenants as they progressively resumed operations under the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Source: NST