KEPPEL Infrastructure Trust (KIT) on Tuesday (Feb 4) posted a 54.2 per cent lower distribution per unit (DPU) of S$0.0195 for the second half ended Dec 31, from S$0.0426 in the year-ago period.
The year-ago period included S$0.0233 of special distributions paid out in November. Excluding the special distributions, DPU for the second half rose 1 per cent to S$0.0195 from S$0.0193.
Revenue for the second half was up 24.6 per cent to S$1.2 billion, from S$972.3 million a year ago. This was attributed to the six months of revenue from Australian bus company Ventura, income recognised as a result of extending Senoko’s concession with the National Environment Agency, as well as higher revenue from manufacturing and trading of chemical products from Ixom, the Australian business supplying chemicals.
Distributable income for the half year fell 38.7 per cent to S$112.7 million from S$183.9 million. The DPU of S$0.0125 for the fourth quarter will be paid out on Feb 18, after the record date on Feb 11.
For the full year, DPU stood at S$0.039 excluding the special distributions. This is 1 per cent higher than FY2023’s DPU of S$0.0386.
Revenue for FY2024 rose 8.8 per cent to S$2.2 billion from S$2 billion, largely driven by seven months of revenue contribution from Ventura’s provision of bus services and income recognised as a result of Senoko’s concession extension.
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Distributable income fell 35.7 per cent to S$203.7 million from S$316.8 million. This was supported by steady portfolio performance, resumed contributions from the Keppel Merlimau Cogen Plant, as well as contributions from the newly acquired German solar portfolio and Ventura.
KIT’s distribution and storage segment led the biggest increase in distributable income for the full year. Its distributable income grew 35.6 per cent to S$99.1 million from S$73.1 million.
The energy transition segment registered a 1.8 per cent rise in distributable income to S$150.4 million from S$147.7 million.
However, the distributable income from its environmental services segment fell 16.4 per cent to S$70 million from S$83.7 million.
The manager said that the trust’s assets under management as at end-December last year stood at S$9 billion. This was an increase of 22 per cent from S$7.4 billion as at end-December 2023, and was mainly due to the acquisitions of the German solar portfolio, Ventura, as well as the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant.
As at end-December, KIT’s net gearing stood at 40.9 per cent, with about 72.9 per cent of loans fixed or hedged. Its weighted average cost of debt was 4.51 per cent.
Units of KIT closed unchanged at S$0.455 on Monday, before the release of its results.
