CapitaLand China registers strong rental reversion, occupancy

With a 95 per cent occupancy rate and a “robust” rental reversion of 12.8 per cent, CapitaLand China Retail Trust has boosted its distribution income by 9.6 per cent in the first quarter.

CapitaLand Retail China Trust Management Limited (CRCTML), which manages CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT), says tenants’ sales in its malls and shopper traffic for the quarter increased by 2.1 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.

A standout performer was its new Rock Square property, acquired on January 31. “We have been strengthening the mall’s appeal through active tenant mix adjustments,” said Tan Tze Wooi, CEO of CRCTML.

“By the end of the first quarter, Rock Square’s occupancy improved to 97.1 per cent from 96.4 per cent as at June 30, with an encouraging rental reversion of more than 20 per cent. We made progress in enhancing the mall’s operational efficiency by replacing its manned carpark payment booth with an electronic system, and achieved significant cost savings by working with CapitaLand to manage the mall. We will be further fine-tuning Rock Square’s tenant mix and retail layout to maximise the potential of this well-located mall,” he said.

Meanwhile, the reconfiguration of the recovered space at CapitaMall Wangjing is on track and the space is almost fully leased. Opening progressively from the second quarter, shoppers can look forward to more than 20 retail, lifestyle and dining concepts including Sisyphe Book Cafe, YID cooking studio and Lao Wang Hotpot – several of which are new-to-market in the Wangjing subdistrict.

“These new stores will almost double the recovered space’s rental income and diversify the mall’s offerings to draw in more shoppers,” he said.

Rock Square_Photo 1

New concepts

Tan said CRCT has been proactively curating new concepts in its malls that are refreshing and relevant to shoppers.

“An example is CapitaMall Grand Canyon’s unmanned convenience store – a retail trend that is catching on in Beijing – that is operated by Bianlifeng. We have also introduced trendy gourmet concepts P.Plus Bakery Club and Greybox Coffee to CapitaMall Xinnan and CapitaMall Wangjing respectively. Other new concepts in our portfolio include China’s first standalone C&A Kids apparel store in CapitaMall Xinnan and Wuhan’s first indoor simulated counter strike gaming centre in CapitaMall Minzhongleyuan.

“To enhance shopper engagement, we continue to embrace digital initiatives such as robotic concierge and augmented reality gaming.”

During the first quarter, CRCT registered RMB267.5 million (S$55.4 million) in gross revenue and RMB179.6 million (S$37.2 million)in net property income (NPI). The lower NPI year-on-year was mainly due to the divestment of CapitaMall Anzhen on July 1 last year and lower revenue from CapitaMall Grand Canyon.

CRCT owns quality shopping malls in eight Chinese cities: CapitaMall Xizhimen, CapitaMall Wangjing, CapitaMall Grand Canyon, CapitaMall Shuangjing in Beijing; Rock Square in Guangzhou; CapitaMall Xinnan in Chengdu, Sichuan Province; CapitaMall Qibao in Shanghai; CapitaMall Minzhongleyuan in Wuhan, Hubei Province; CapitaMall Erqi in Zhengzhou, Henan Province; CapitaMall Saihan in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia; and CapitaMall Wuhu in Wuhu, Anhui Province. As at March 31, the total asset size of CRCT is approximately S$3 billion.

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