FILRT declares stable Q3 dividend

Filinvest REIT [FILRT 3.08 unch; 27% avgVol] [link] declared a Q3/24 dividend of P0.062/share, payable on December 6 to shareholders of record as of November 20. The dividend has an annualized yield of 8.05% based on the previous closing price. The total amount of the dividend is P303 million, which is 104% of the P293 million in distributable income that FILRT reported for the quarter. Relative to FILRT's IPO price, the dividend increased FILRT's total stock and dividend return to -39.36%, up from its pre-dividend total return of -40.24%. The Gotianun Family’s REIT company said in an associated press release that FILRT’s 9-month revenue figure of P2.1 billion is down 7% “due to a temporary drop in occupancy in the first quarter brought about by the rightsizing of some tenants because of the hybrid work alternative.” 

MB bottom-line: I have to give credit where credit is due, at least the management team has stopped hiding the the problems and is openly discussing how they’re trying to fix it. That’s more than FILRT shareholders have had in a long time. Not only that, but this is the longest period of dividend stability since the four-quarter run from Q4/22 to Q3/23 at P0.071/share. FILRT’s occupancy increased marginally to 83%. It’s still far below the top-tier REIT average of 96%, but at least the management team has spoken the problem out loud and appears to be making some headway in addressing it. Glass half-full analysis is that they have a ton of vacant inventory giving lots of room for organic growth of the dividend. Glass half-empty analysis is that they need to grow their tenant base during a very difficult time for commercial leasing. Perhaps it’s time for the Gotianun Family to consider injecting non-commercial assets to further diversify the mix and give the stock some momentum.  

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