KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): UOA Real Estate Investment Trust’s (REIT) net rental income for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20) fell 10.81% to RM12.98 million, from RM14.61 million a year earlier.

The fall was due to rental rebates given to eligible tenants, the commercial REIT said in a bourse filing.

UOA REIT declared a distribution per unit (DPU) of 4.6 sen, compared with 2.3 sen a year ago. The cumulative DPU for FY20 was 8.44 sen, lower than the 9.11 sen declared in the previous financial year.

There was an 8.42% decline in the REIT’s quarterly revenue to RM18.11 million from RM19.78 million.

For FY20 as a whole, net rental income was down 12.43% at RM50.73 million, from RM57.93 million in FY19.

Cumulative revenue for FY20 was also down, falling by 8.1% to RM72.36 million from RM78.73 million.

On its prospects, the REIT said the acquisition of the UOA Corporate Tower was completed on Dec 30.

With this new injection to the REIT, the manager will see an increase in rental income in FY21,  it said, adding that the asset size increased to RM1.74 billion from RM1.05 billion.

“The economic condition remains uncertain due to the current pandemic situation. An uncertainty in the economic condition will have an impact on the occupancy and rental rates of our properties,” said UOA REIT.

“However, the manager will continue to manage the properties within the portfolio with prudent capital management to maximise yield for unitholders. The manager will continue to explore seek new investment opportunities that meets the objectives of UOA REIT,” it said.

UOA REIT units finished 0.91% or one sen lower at RM1.09, valuing the trust at RM736.4 million. It saw 467,500 units traded today.