PREIT declares odd Q1 dividend

Premiere Island Power REIT [PREIT 1.92 ?2.0%; 13% avgVol] [link] declared a Q1/24 dividend of P0.0326/share, payable on June 28 to shareholders of record as of June 11. The dividend has an annualized yield of 6.79%, which is considerably smaller than the 7.92% annualized yield PREIT had based on its Q4/23 dividend and its previous closing price. The total amount of the dividend is P107 million, which is 90% of the P119 million in distributable income PREIT reported for the quarter. The dividend is 9% larger y/y but 16% smaller q/q.

MB BOTTOM-LINE: It’s confusing to have this much variability between quarters for a REIT that is just a passthrough of several leases. PREIT’s income isn’t a function of how much the operating powerplants on the land earn, it’s just basic lease income paid by the operating companies to PREIT. The company’s Q1 Quarterly Report doesn’t reveal any kind of significant change, but it’s worth mentioning that the management’s comments in this section are constrained to comparing Q1/24 to Q1/23, not Q4/23, where the questions arise. I can look past the boomer-ish diagonal scan of the Quarterly Report that kills my CTRL-F ability, but I can’t look past the management’s comfort in declaring a dividend like this without comment. PREIT is earning that Villar discount.

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