Hektar REIT 3Q profit at RM8.9m

KUALA LUMPUR: Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which is in the midst of looking into several acquisitions, reported a net profit of RM8.9 million and a turnover of RM18.3 million for the 10 months of the current financial year to Sept 30, 2007.

Earnings per share was 2.78 sen. It has declared an interim income distribution of 2.4 sen to be paid on Nov 30, bringing the total amount paid so far to 7.2 sen.

For the nine-month period, net profit was RM28.6 million on a turnover of RM60 million, it announced yesterday.

It said actual revenue for the 10-month period exceeded the forecast by 5% while actual expenses were capped within forecast.

The trust expected to achieve satisfactory performance for FY07 as it had formulated a three-pronged strategy in yield-accretive acquisition, active leasing and asset enhancement strategies to achieve it.

It said: “The manager is undertaking due-diligence exercises on several shopping centres for the purpose of acquisition ... (and) will make the relevant announcements in due course.”

By The EDGE (By Lim Yu Min)