Pavilion REIT Q3 profit rises 12%

PETALING JAYA: Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust’s (REIT) net profit in its third quarter ended Sept 30 rose by over 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) despite higher expenses, supported by stronger revenue in the quarter.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the trust announced that its earnings in the threemonth period jumped to RM62.25 mil from RM55.41 mil a year earlier.

The improvement in bottom line was a result of its revenue, which was up by 16.47% y-o-y, largely due to the rental income from its newly-acquired property, Elite Pavilion Mall, higher rental income from Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Mall and a higher occupancy rate at Intermark Mall.

Pavilion REIT said that its top line in the third quarter rose to RM141.35 mil, up from RM121.36 mil in the same quarter a year ago.

For context, the Elite Pavilion Mall was acquired at the end of April 2018. Meanwhile, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Mall recorded higher rental income following its repositioning exercise that was done earlier.

For the quarter in review, the company did not announce any dividend. Earnings per share stood at 2.05 sen.

Cumulatively, for the first nine months of the financial year 2018, Pavilion REIT’s earnings increased by nearly 13% y-o-y to RM188.4 mil. Top line-wise, the trust saw an improvement of 13.14% y-o-y to RM407.92 mil in the nine-month period.

“Even though the retail market reported a higher sales growth from June to August 2018 due to the zero goods and services tax, retail spending is expected to pick up only during the year-end seasonal holidays,” it said.