Sunway City Kuala Lumpur,01 February 2025
Sunway REIT Management Sdn. Bhd., the Manager of Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (“Sunway REIT”) is pleased to release its financial results for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2024 (“Q4 2024”).
Sunway REIT achieved significant revenue growth of 15.9% in Q4 2024, recording RM220.9 million compared to RM190.5 million in Q4 2023. Net property income (“NPI”) rose by an even stronger 22.0%, climbing from RM135.7 million to RM165.6 million during the same period. For the financial year ended 31 December 2024 (“FY2024”), Sunway REIT reported an increased revenue of RM767.1 million and NPI of RM569.7 million. The strong growth was primarily driven by contributions from nine newly acquired properties during the year, as well as strong performance in the Retail and Hotel segments, complemented by stable results from other segments.
In Q4 2024, the Retail segment maintained its strong growth trajectory, with revenue climbing 20.2% to RM149.0 million, up from RM123.9 million in Q4 2023. This growth was largely driven by full-quarter rental contributions from six hypermarkets commencing on 30 April 2024, as well as rental income from Sunway 163 Mall starting from 9 October 2024, along with additional contributions from Sunway Pyramid Mall following the opening of new Oasis precinct on 1 November 2024. Consequently, the segment’s NPI surged 30.1% to RM103.5 million, compared to RM79.6 million in the same period last year. The Retail segment’s upward momentum is expected to strengthen further in the coming quarters, bolstered by full-year contributions from the recently acquired properties.
The Hotel segment’s revenue grew by 19.8% in Q4 2024, reaching RM27.9 million compared to RM23.3 million in Q4 2023. This growth was driven by an overall increase in tourism activity which was reflected in the rise in the average occupancy rate from 64% to 65% and an improvement of average room rate by 3% for FY2024. Similarly, the segment’s net property income (NPI) increased by 25.0%, climbing from RM21.4 million in Q4 2023 to RM26.8 million in Q4 2024. The Penang hotels — Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya and Sunway Hotel Georgetown contributed the highest growth in terms of average room rate. The inflow of foreign tourists primarily came from Singapore, the Middle East, China, India, and Indonesia. Furthermore, the segment’s healthy performance was supported by strong demand from leisure travelers, as well as for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) activities.
The Office segment experienced a slight revenue decline of 2.3% in Q4 2024, falling to RM20.5 million from RM21.0 million in the same quarter last year. NPI also decreased by 4.7%, from RM13.0 million to RM12.4 million. This decline was primarily due to a drop in the occupancy rate at Sunway Putra Tower following the relocation of a major tenant to their new office building.
The Services segment registered revenue and NPI of RM9.6 million for Q4 2024, an increase of 2.3% compared to same period last year pursuant to an annual rental reversion in accordance with the master lease agreement for Sunway university & college campus.
The Industrial & Others segment, on the other hand, reported a jump of more than 100% in revenue and NPI to RM3.5 million and RM2.9 million respectively, in Q4 2024. This strong performance was driven by rental contributions from new tenants at Sunway REIT Industrial – Petaling Jaya 1 and the newly acquired Sunway REIT Industrial – Prai, which began contributing rental income on 24 October 2024.
The Manager proposed a distribution per unit (“DPU”) of 5.34 sen for the second half of FY2024, resulting in a total DPU of 10.0 sen for the full financial year and in line with its commitment to a 100% distribution payout policy. In addition, Sunway REIT’s share price rallied 31 sen or 20.1% from RM1.54 as at end FY2023 to RM1.85 as at end FY2024. Based on RM1.85, the total DPU of 10.0 sen represents a distribution yield of 5.4% and total returns of 25.5% to unitholders for FY2024.
Commenting on Sunway REIT’s results, the Chief Executive Officer of Sunway REIT Management Sdn. Bhd., Clement Chen, remarked, “We are delighted to celebrate Sunway REIT’s two new financial milestones in FY2024. Firstly, we achieved our highest ever DPU since Sunway REIT’s listing of 10.0 sen. The higher DPU comes on the back of higher net property income of RM569.7 million that is driven by our new acquisitions and successfully completed AEIs.”
“Further, we are pleased that our Assets Under Management have surpassed RM10.4 billion, becoming only the second REIT in Malaysia to surpass the RM10 billion mark. The substantial increase was fueled by the acquisition of nine new properties during the year and fair value gains of more than RM170.0 million. All the acquisitions are yield accretive to Sunway REIT’s portfolio and are expected to enhance its performance and DPU further in 2025. Additionally, the successful reconfiguration of Sunway Pyramid Mall’s Oasis precinct, which reopened on 1 November 2024, is set to also support our growth.”
He concluded, “The outlook for Sunway REIT in FY2025 is bright as we will see full year impact of our recent acquisitions and AEIs. Our main sectors of retail and hospitality are also expected to benefit from the increase in minimum wages, civil service wage hike and continued increase in tourist arrivals. Meanwhile, we will continue to actively monitor the market for acquisition opportunities especially in the retail, industrial and services segments to add to the AEON Sri Manjung Mall acquisition which have been announced recently.”
