KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust's (Sunway REIT) net profit shrank 46.11 per cent to RM208.21 million in the year ended June 30, 2020 (FY20), from RM386.37 million net profit recorded a year ago.
In an exchange filing today, Sunway REIT said this was mainly due to rental support to assist tenants as well as lower carpark income affected by restrictions and loss of business during the lockdown period.
Its FY20 revenue eased 4.03 per cent to RM556.88 million from RM580.30 million in 2019 due to lower contribution from the hotel and retail segments.
This owed to challenging operating environment which was further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and business restrictions imposition.
For the fourth-quarter (Q4), Sunway REIT drowned in red ink with a net loss of RM13.48 million from a net profit of RM178.01 million, while revenue decreased 27.91 per cent to RM104.93 million from RM145.56 million a year ago.
Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Jeffrey Ng said the company had implemented prudent cost management and cash conservation initiatives as pre-emptive measures to ensure sufficient flexibility in its liquidity management.
"As part of the cash conservation initiative, we are in the process of establishing a Distribution Reinvestment Scheme (DRS) to provide the additional flexibility to unitholders to receive future income distribution in cash, units or a combination of both," he said in a separate statement today.
Ng said the company had maintained a cautious outlook in the year ending June 20, 2021 (FY21) due to the uncertainties surrounding global economic recovery.
"We will focus on rebuilding the business segments that have been adversely impacted by the pandemic while strengthening its balance sheet and expanding the income stream via yield-accretive acquisitions and prudent capital management strategies," he added.
Sunway REIT proposed a final distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.38 sen for the six-month period ended June 30 this year, bringing the total DPU to 7.33 sen in FY2020.