Real Estate Investment Trust firms AREIT Inc. and MREIT Inc. booked higher profits in the first quarter on the back of stable growth in office leasing business and continued expansion.
AREIT said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-quarter net income rose 27 percent to P1.01 billion as revenues jumped 23 percent to P1.48 billion.
AREIT said it recorded an average occupancy of 97 percent and strong collection performance, reflecting the high-quality tenancy in its properties.
AREIT shareholders approved in April the planned P22.48-billion asset-for-share swap deal with parent firm Ayala Land Inc.
The transaction will almost triple the company’s assets under management to P87 billion and boost its GLA more than five-fold to 863,000 square meters.
First-quarter net income of MREIT also climbed 6.8 percent to P730 million from P687.2 million as revenues grew by 15 percent to P1 billion from P901 million a year earlier.
MREIT said the growth was driven by acquisition and consolidation of the P5.3 billion worth of assets which began contributing to the company’s income this year.
MREIT declared dividends of P0.2476 per share to its shareholders based on its distributable income.
The cash dividends will be payable on June 19, 2023 to shareholders on record as of May 29, 2023.
The new assets, which include office towers in McKinley West and Iloilo Business Park, increased MREIT’s gross leasable area by 16 percent to 324,700 sq. m.
“We have achieved another milestone for MREIT as we finally closed our promised acquisition. As we move forward, we remain focused on our core strategies of acquiring high-quality assets and delivering sustainable income to our investors, as are now working for the next stage of growth for MREIT,” said MREIT president and chief executive Kevin Tan.
MREIT’s average occupancy rate stood at 95 percent as of end-March.
“The office industry is resilient and remains an important growth story for our nation. We believe the remaining challenges are only temporary and we look to be on the forefront of oncoming demand, especially from the growing BPO industry,” said Tan.