OUE Hospitality Trust - DPU 1.68 cents from 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2014

OUE Hospitality Trust delivered a distribution rate of 1.68 cents for the period of 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2014. This exceeded expectations by 4.3% based on the forecast of 1.61 cents. Based on this rate and on the current share price is $0.88, this works out to a yield of about 7.63%, which seems to be fairly decent.

But one must note that they only have 2 centrally located properties in their portfolio and they are situated next to one another. If the hotel occupancy rates fall, it is natural for the adjoining Mandarin Gallery to fall as well. However, having said that, I do like their numbers this quarter and one can see that they trying hard to improve their property portfolio by doing AEI on hotel rooms to improve their profits.

The following are the summarized points of the press release.

• Ongoing AEI to renovate 430 guest rooms to be completed in phases in 2014 and 2015.
• Out of these 430 rooms, 64 rooms have completed renovation.
• Gross revenue for 1Q2014 was 1.4% higher than the forecast for the same period
• RevPar at $248 was lower than forecast of $257 due to Indonesia elections
• NPI was $25.6 mil, 2.7% higher than the forecast.
• Created more options for financing through the establishment of a US$1 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme

OUE H Reit's portfolio is the 1,077-room Mandarin Orchard Singapore and the adjoining Mandarin Gallery, which has a portfolio value of S$1.76 billion as at 31 December 2013. You can view their press release here.