CREIT income rises 1.6% to nearly P305 million

CITICORE Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT) reported a first-quarter net income of P304.96 million, a 1.6% increase from P300.30 million a year ago, driven by revenue growth.

In the company’s stock exchange disclosure, CREIT reported a 13.5% increase in revenues during the quarter to P376.45 million from P331.79 million a year ago.

The revenue rise was driven by lease contracts from newly acquired parcels of land funded by the proceeds of its ASEAN green bond issuance in February.

CREIT said the lease contracts contributed about 11% to the company’s total lease revenues.

“CREIT’s investment strategy is focused on adding value-accretive assets to its clean and green real estate portfolio,” said CREIT President and Chief Executive Officer Oliver Y. Tan.

In February, CREIT announced its plan to build 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects in the next five years, with at least 1.5 GW targeted for development in 2023.

CREIT said it had expanded its Batangas property’s land area to 3.4 million square meters (sq.m.) as of March 31, saying it had secured its position as “largest landlord” for renewable energy real estate properties at 5.4 million sq.m. of leasable space.

The company said its newly acquired land parcels in Batangas are leased out to affiliate solar power developers at full occupancy.

“We see a clear path to grow CREIT’s green asset portfolio with potential assets for infusion of land parcels coming from CREC’s 5 GW (gigawatts) project pipeline and commitment to start building one gigawatt every year for the next five years,” Mr. Tan said.

CREIT declared a cash dividend of P0.047 per share for the quarter, 6.8% higher than its cash dividend in the same period last year. Its shares closed unchanged at P2.52 each on Monday. — Ashley Erika O. Jose