SINGAPORE: Strong tourism growth in Australia and Japan boosted Frasers Hospitality Trust’s results in the second quarter.
The hotel and serviced residence owner benefited from fast-growing numbers of international visitors in the two countries, offsetting weaker results in its London and Singapore properties.
Foreign visitor numbers hit a record high of 19.7 million in Japan last year, a rise of 47.3 per cent from the year before. Net property income came in at $22.2 million for the three months to March 31, up 17.3 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
Revenue also increased, rising 12.5 per cent to $27 million.While distributable income rose 10.5 per cent to hit $18.4 million, distribution per stapled security (DPS) came in at 1.33 cents, down 3.6 per cent from the previous year.
The trust, which was listed in 2014, owns seven hotels and six serviced residences in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Britain, Scotland and Singapore.
“While our Sydney and Kobe properties did well in the second quarter, our London properties have experienced weakness since the November Paris attacks,” said Ms Eu Chin Fen, chief executive of Frasers Hospitality Trust’s real estate investment manager.
“At the InterContinental Singapore, performance was affected by renovation works. Although they were fully completed in end-February, our strategy to reposition the hotel is likely to take longer than expected under current market condition,” she said.
The company expects continually strong growth in the hospitality sector from Australia and Japan this year. However, it added that the growth in Singapore’s tourism industry is likely to be slow even though visitor arrivals for January and February grew 12.3 per cent, compared with the year before.
The trust used the official opening of Fraser Place Tianjin yesterday to announce plans to launch 10 more properties in Chinese cities where it also has a presence, including Tianjin, Wuxi and Chengdu.
