AREIT sets quarterly dividend payout; declares first dividend payable in September

Underscoring the unique investment potential of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in the country, AREIT, Inc. has declared total cash dividends of P0.59 per outstanding common share from the rental income generated by its high-performing commercial assets in the first half of the year. This is broken down to P0.28 and P0.31 per outstanding common share, for the first and the second quarter of 2020, respectively. The payout will be on September 15, 2020 to stockholders on record as of September 2, 2020.

In a board meeting held today, the Philippines’ first REIT company also established a dividend policy which plans for the distribution of quarterly dividends. The planned distribution dates will be on or before March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31 of the calendar year.

“AREIT provides investors regular dividend income derived from prime commercial properties, higher than most fixedincome instruments,” said AREIT President Carol T. Mills.

The steady income generated by AREIT will provide shareholders with increasing dividend distributions. Based on the REIT Act of 2009, investors are entitled to receive at least 90% of the company’s distributable income every year. AREIT’s prospectus nonetheless indicates a higher dividend payout ratio this year than the prescribed minimum.

The Company’s portfolio consists of three Grade A properties in Makati City, namely Ayala North Exchange, Solaris One and McKinley Exchange. These properties cover a total gross leasable area of about 153 thousand square meters (sqm) and have a total occupancy rate of 99.9%. AREIT is on track to acquire Teleperformance Cebu, a Grade A BPO office property in Cebu IT Park from ALO Prime Realty, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayala Land. This brings AREIT’s portfolio to more than 170 thousand sqm by the end of the year.

“Beyond the purchase of the Cebu property, we are focused on growing AREIT’s portfolio with yield accretive acquisitions for our shareholders,” added Carol Mills.

Aiming to further participate in the development of the capital markets, the AREIT board also approved the establishment and filing of a three-year shelf registration of up to P15 billion worth of debt securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will provide AREIT the ability to leverage for future acquisitions while preserving cash for dividend distributions.

AREIT was listed on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on August 13, 2020.

- PSE Edge

Source: Peso Economics