CapitaLand Malaysia Trust distributable income rises 32.2% in third quarter
Key Facts
CapitaLand Malaysia Trust's distributable income rose 32.2% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, according to CapitaLand's announcement on October 21. Income reached 46.334 million Malaysian ringgit, compared with 35.051 million ringgit in the third quarter of 2025. Distribution per unit also increased, although at a slower pace than total distributable income. Distribution per unit stood at 1.35 sen, compared with 1.11 sen a year earlier, an increase of 21.6%. Quarterly property revenue rose to 126.541 million ringgit from 116.036 million ringgit in the corresponding period. Revenue growth was 9.1% year on year, according to the official results announcement. Net property income grew at a faster pace of 14.9%, reaching 79.402 million ringgit from 69.101 million ringgit a year earlier.
Annual growth in distributable income accelerated from the second quarter, for which the trust announced results on July 27, 2026. Income in that quarter was 43.410 million ringgit, compared with 34.570 million ringgit in the second quarter of 2025. The annual increase then was 25.6%, while income was below the level recorded in the third quarter. For the first nine months of 2026, distributable income totalled 135.509 million ringgit, according to the quarterly financial statements. That compared with 106.918 million ringgit in the same period of 2025, representing cumulative growth of 26.7%. Distribution per unit for the nine months rose to 4.00 sen from 3.57 sen in the corresponding period. Cumulative distribution growth was 12.0%, also below the rate of increase in distributable income over the same period.
CapitaLand's announcement attributed the increase in net property income to contributions from acquired assets and improved contributions from most existing assets. Chief Executive Officer Yong Su Lin linked the trust's expansion into industrial and logistics properties to greater portfolio diversification and resilience. "Our expansion into industrial and logistics has strengthened diversification and resilience," she said in the results announcement. Industrial and logistics properties contributed 9.4% of portfolio net property income in the first nine months of 2026, according to the results presentation. That contribution formed part of a performance combining income from industrial and logistics assets with rental gains in the retail portfolio.
The retail portfolio recorded rental reversion of 11.3% from January to September 2026, according to the results presentation. The increase was measured against average rent over the previous lease term. On store activity, CapitaLand's announcement reported a 7.0% year-on-year improvement in shopper traffic among its cumulative performance indicators through September. Tenant sales per square foot also rose 0.6% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period a year earlier. The increase in shopper traffic therefore exceeded the rise in tenant sales per square foot. Across the overall portfolio, committed occupancy stood at 94.3% on September 30, 2026.
On financing, quarterly costs fell 7.9% year on year, according to the trust's financial statements. Financing costs totalled 22.9 million ringgit in the third quarter of 2026, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The statements attributed the decline to savings from refinancing medium-term notes. Refixing some loans at lower rates also helped reduce these costs. The year-to-date average cost of debt through September was 4.17%, while gearing stood at 38.3% at the end of the month, according to the results presentation. Fixed-rate borrowings accounted for 75% of total borrowings on September 30, 2026. The average remaining debt maturity was 5.5 years on the same date.
For its upcoming industrial expansion, acquisitions at the i-TechValley project remain pending completion, according to the third-quarter financial statements. The assets involved in these acquisitions are in Iskandar Puteri. Total cash consideration for the acquisitions is 220.8 million ringgit, according to the quarterly statements. The trust's results presentation addressed the handover date for the project's first industrial unit. The unit is scheduled for handover in March 2027.