AREIT reports 55% growth in EBITDA

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-sponsored AREIT Inc. (AREIT), the country’s first real estate investment trust, recorded an EBITDA of P2.4 billion last year, up 55 percent on the back of stable operations and occupancy rate.

The company’s full-year net income ended at P2.43 billion, inclusive of a net fair value change in investment properties of P165 million.

Excluding the net fair value change in investment properties, net income registered at P2.27 billion, 56 percent higher than the net income before the net change in fair value, and a one-time deferred tax of P1.45 billion in 2020.

AREIT raked in revenue of P3.32 billion, up 63 percent.

The company’s board of directors approved the declaration of dividends of P0.47 per share for the fourth quarter of 2021 to be distributed on March 25 to stockholders on record as of March 11.

This brought AREIT’s full-year dividends from its 2021 income to P1.77 per share, a 34 percent increase from 2020 and 12 percent higher than its REIT plan projection during its initial public offering in August 2020.

In 2021, the company purchased The 30th, a 75,000 sqm commercial development located in Pasig City, and 98,000 sqm of land at Laguna Technopark leased by Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.

It also secured the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval for a property-for-share swap with Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and its subsidiaries, Westview Commercial Ventures Corp. and Glensworth Development Inc., in exchange for properties such as Vertis North Office Towers and Mall, Ayala Life FGU Office Condo Units in Makati and Alabang, One and Two Evotech BPO Buildings in Nuvali, and Bacolod Capitol, and Ayala Northpoint BPO Buildings in Negros Occidental.

AREIT ended 2021 with a total GLA of 549,000 sqm and assets under management (AUM) of P53 billion, which it plans to bring to P60 billion this year.

It also plans to grow its asset portfolio at an average of 100,000 sqm of GLA in 2023 and 2024, translating to an increase of P10 to P15 billion in its AUM annually during the period.