PETALING JAYA: Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) said its fourth quarter net profit rose 52.16% to RM357.91mil from RM235.21mil in the same quarter a year ago.

Profit for the year jumped 32% to RM541.4mil, comprising realised profit of RM242mil million and unrealised profit of RM299.4mil mainly arising from fair value gain.

Sunway REIT said in a press release that gross revenue and net property income for the fourth quarter increased by 5.2% year-on-year and 7.1% year-on-year respectively, mainly due to the retail segment.

“The retail segment reported robust growth despite the much anticipated weaker consumer sentiment following the implementation of the goods and services tax in April. The resilience of the performance was due to locked-in tenancies,” it said.

“The performance was however affected by lower contribution from the hotel segment and office segment,” it added.

The REIT manager had proposed a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.05 sen for its fourth quarter in the financial year 2015 (FY15) ended June 30.

The total DPU for FY15 stood at 8.73 sen, representing an increase of 4.4% compared to the preceding year.

“We are cautious on the prospect in the next financial year as we are clouded with external headwinds and domestic uncertainties affecting the economic growth, business and consumer sentiment,” Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Jeffrey Ng said.

“This is further exacerbated by challenges of oversupply and intense competition. Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall and Sunway Carnival Shopping Mall are expected to be more resilient in view that they are leading regional malls in established townships,” Ng added.