YTL Hospitality REIT performs better

YTL Hospitality REIT’s hotel assets in Australia performed better in the three months ended September 30, 2020, says Pintar Projek Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh Sock Ping.

Yeoh said there was improvement in revenue and net property income (NPI) from the Sydney Harbour, Brisbane and Melbourne Marriott hotels in Australia resulting from their participation in the Australian government’s isolation programmes and the subsidy from its jobseeker programme.

There was also improvement in the property rental segment with an increase in revenue and NPI, he said in a statement.

Yeoh said the increase was due to the recognition of lease income on a straight-line basis over the tenure of the lease following the rental variations for the trust’s hotels in Malaysia and Hilton Niseko in Japan, which reduced the lease rentals by 50 per cent for 24 months until June 30, 2022.

Pintar Projek is the Manager of YTL Hospitality REIT and is a 70 per cent-owned unit of YTL Land Sdn Bhd, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of YTL Corp Bhd.

For the three months to September 30, 2020, YTL Hospitality REIT recorded revenue of RM79 million, a 13.3 per cent increase compared to RM69.8 million for the previous quarter ended June 30, 2020.

NPI increased to RM53 million in the quarter under review over RM44.3 million for the previous quarter, whilst income available for distribution stood at RM16.8 million for the period under review compared to RM27 million for the preceding quarter.

Yeoh said the trust recorded higher pre-tax profit in this quarter compared to the last quarter ended June 30, 2020, due to a decrease in foreign currency translation losses recorded this quarter, as well as the absence of a fair value loss on properties of RM28.1 million recorded in the last quarter.

YTL REIT, presently the only REIT listed in Malaysia that invests in hospitality assets has an investment portfolio of 15 prime hotels and resorts located in Malaysia, Australia and Japan.

In Malaysia, the properties include the JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur, The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur, The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur, the Pangkor Laut, Tanjong Jara, and Cameron Highlands resorts and the AC branded hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Kuantan.

Its international portfolio comprises Hilton Niseko Village in Japan and the Sydney Harbour, Brisbane and Melbourne Marriott hotels in Australia.

Source: NST