Revenue at Treasury China Trust up 14%

GROSS REVENUE at Treasury China Trust, the China-based company which is 30 per cent owned by Treasury Holdings, rose by 14 per cent in the first quarter.

The company, which listed in Singapore in June 2010, posted net profit of SG7.03 million (€3.8 million) during the three-months under review and earnings per unit (EPU) of SG2.7 million.

It said net property income was 8.6 per cent ahead of forecast at SG12.45 million and represented a 3.5 per cent improvement over the preceding quarter. Gross revenues of SG19.45 million were 14 per cent up on the same three-month period a year earlier.

Treasury China Trust, which is one of the largest investors in Chinese commercial real estate, said occupancy rates exceeded 90 per cent.

Earlier this year it said it was spending €63.5 million to buy a shopping mall in Shanghai. It plans to fund this and other acquisitions through the issuance of €29.8 million in convertible bonds.

For the first quarter the firm said it negotiated 33 leases within its portfolio, encompassing both new lettings and renewals, producing an aggregated per square metre rental increase of 12.8 per cent.

Major transactions carried out during the quarter under review included Honeywell’s renewal of its office lease for 5,600 sq m and the expansion by Hanes of its office accommodation by 1,769 sq m.

The board reaffirmed its intention to distribute SG 0.10 cents per unit for 2011, with the first payment of SG 0.05 cents to be paid in respect of the June half year.

“The optimism for 2011 previously expressed by the board of Treasury China Trust is bearing fruit, with a strong start to the new year producing a strong gross revenue and net profit after tax outcome, which included a 7.0 per cent reduction in property operating expenses evidencing TCT’s ongoing focus to create an efficient cost base to deliver maximum return to our unit holders,” said chairman Richard Barrett.