VREIT Q1 div up 18.9% y/y

VistaREIT [VREIT 1.89 unch]] [link] declared a Q1 dividend of P0.04912/share (+18.9% y/y, -3.8% q/q) on P368.4 million in distributable income (+18.9% y/y, -4.7% q/q), for a payout ratio of dividends to distributable income of 100%. The dividend is payable on July 4 to shareholders of record as of June 13.

MB bottom-line: Judging by its annualized yield (10.4%), the market does not trust Manny Villar’s REIT. And yet, it just keeps delivering. This is a mall-focused REIT, and it seems like there is a bit of seasonality to the income that it generates, and a little bit of an emerging pattern with respect to the dividends that it declares. Intuitively, as a mall operator, Q4 is a big period for VREIT. Its Q4 divs are always the fattest. Sure, its Q4/24 div (P0.05107) was noticeably smaller than its Q4/23 div (P0.0538), but what’s interesting is how the regular quarterly dividend has grown step by step in between those Viking Buffet Q4 dividends. Comparing Q1/23 to Q3/23 shows a 2% increase. Comparing Q1/24 to Q3/24 shows a 13% increase. Added together, VREIT distributed 6.8% more dividends in FY24 than it did in FY23. While I’m not willing to say that this year will be bigger than the last, I am at least willing to note that the pattern appears to be intact: higher “regular” quarterly divs. Now let’s see if the second phase of the pattern (increasing quarterly divs) holds, and if the final phase (a fat Q4 div leading to higher overall dividends) also holds.

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