Singapore's largest real estate investment trust (REIT) by capitalisation, CapitalMall Trust, unveiled higher than expected returns on 17 July 2008, unveiling a 13.2 percent year-on-year growth on Distribution Per Unit for Q2 2008. Gross revenue for the quarter was S$125.6 mil, an increase of S$5.8 mil or 4.8 percent over forecast.

Hsuan Owyang, Chairman, CapitaMall Trust Management Limited (CMTML), said: "We are pleased to have once again outperformed our forecast. Over the last six years, since our listing in July 2002, we have established a strong track. Going forward, we will continue to actively manage our quality portfolio and pursue yield accretive acquisitions to grow our local asset size."

CMTML cited a number of success factors for the results despite what Chief Executive Officer Pua Seck Guan, Calls a "weak macroeconomic sentiment." He pointed to resilient sales, based on excellent locations for the REIT's malls and added that "approximately 96.0 percent of our forecast gross rental revenue for 2008 has already been locked as at 30 June 2008."

The REIT has followed a strategy of asset enhancement, and major works are planned or ongoing at a number of key locations such as The Atrium@Orchard, Lot One Shoppers' Mall and Jurong Entertainment Centre. CapitalMall Trust was the first REIT listed on Singapore Exchange and is the largest REIT by asset size and market capitalisation and in Singapore, with an asset size and market capitalisation of approximately S$6.6 bil and S$5.1 bil respectively.


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