The Rs 180-crore planned dividend payout is Rs 6 per unit this quarter, with 35 per cent of the distributions tax free for unitholders. This takes total distribution to Rs 12 per unit since listing. It has a strong balance sheet with only 18.7 per cent loan-to-value ratio.
Income from operating lease rentals was stable at Rs 160 crore, a marginal 10 bps (basis points) growth over the same period previous year, due to lower profit from the common area maintenance as the committed occupancy has been low since the pandemic. Accordingly, net operating income, adjusted for income from identified assets, was slipped by 7.8 per cent on-year to Rs 160 crore.
During the reporting quarter, BIRET has collected 99 per cent of contracted rentals and effected an eight per cent rental hike on 8 lakh sqft of leased area.
It has leased 47,000 sqft in the quarter, including 38,000 sqft leased to a leading healthcare company, and another 1.64 lakh sqft is being signed now.
“We’ve leased and renewed 7.51 lakh sqft space of which 2.16 lakh sqft is in our Reit assets and 5.35 lakh sqft in identified assets, this fiscal. Higher demand is being driven by tenants looking to relocate and expand in grade A assets,” Alok Aggarwal, chief executive of Brookprop Management Services, which is the manager of Reit.
Its assets, in key gateway cities, account for over 50 per cent of the net absorption in their micro-markets before the pandemic and are well-positioned to benefit from the uptick in the post-pandemic demand for office space, Aggarwal added.
BIRET’s identified assets had robust rental collections of 99 per cent in the quarter. One of its key projects, Candor N2 in Noida, is fast nearing stabilisation with 77,000 sqft of new leasing in October, taking the new leasing to 5.35 lakh sqft so far this financial year, he said.
Sounding optimistic about the demand for high-quality workspaces, Aggarwal said they are already seeing an uptick in physical occupancies. The ongoing vaccination drive coupled with the faster than forecast economic recovery will further strengthen this trend, he said.
He added that low leverage, long interest only period and undrawn credit lines provide the company with ample liquidity to further our organic and inorganic growth plans.
BIRET, the country’s only institutionally managed Reit, and the first to go public, last February, had a 99 per cent collection and 85 per cent same-store occupancy.
During the quarter, the same-store committed occupancy stood at 85 per cent and the overall committed occupancy at 82 per cent.
It also got fire approvals for the Amenity Block III in Candor N1, Noida, with the expected delivery from next month. Tower 11 at Candor N2 has achieved 80 per cent leasing within six months of completion.
BIRET comprises four large campus format office parks located in key gateway markets of Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida, and Kolkata. Its portfolio consists of 14 million sqft of space, comprising 10.3 million sqft of completed area, 0.1 million sqft of under-construction area and 3.7 million sqft of future development potential.
BIRET has rights to acquire an additional 8.3 million sqft and rights of first offer on an additional 6.7 million sqft, both currently owned by members of the Brookfield Group. PTI BEN HRS hrs
