StarHill Global Reit

The share price has been drifting lowered each day from 76 cents to a low of 64.5 cents.
Looks like value is creeping up !
NAV of 92.2 cents.
DPU of 4.36 cents , yield of 6.7%.

Looks like undervalue it is surfacing now!

These are my findings for Starhill Global REIT. Starhill Global REIT as they described themselves on their website is a REIT which currently has a portfolio of 11 properties used primarily for retail and office uses. Their flagship properties are Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City located in Orchard Road of Singapore. They have grown in their portfolio from their two flagship properties to now total of 11 properties located across KL Malaysia, Chengdu China, Tokyo Japan, Perth and also Adelaide Australia. Thus, they are now diversified into different geographical regions.

For this sharing, I will do a comparison of Starhill Global REIT versus CapitaMall Trust, a very familiar Singapore large retail REIT which is also the first listed REIT in Singapore. Since Starhill Global REIT derives majority of their revenue from retail tenants and less so from office tenants, it is still a reasonable comparison against CapitaMall Trust. I will compare their compounded annual growth rates (CAGRs) in three different important metrics over the past 11 years since 2006 to 2017. These three important metrics are net property income, distributable income and value of investment properties. The exact period of comparison may differ slightly due to different reporting timings of their full year results. Nevertheless, it is still kept to not more than half a year difference in both their period of comparison.

First, we look at the net property income growth. For CapitaMall Trust, it's net property income has grown at a CAGR of 7.42% over the past 11 years from 2006 to 2017. For Starhill Global, it's net property income has grown at a CAGR of 9.2% over a similar period.

Next, we look at the distributable income growth. For CapitaMall Trust, it's distributable income has grown at a CAGR of 8.02% over the past 11 years. For Starhill Global, it's distributable income has grown at a CAGR of 7.2% over a similar period.

We look now to the value of investment properties growth. For CapitaMall Trust, it's value of investment properties has grown at a CAGR of 6.1% over the past 11 years. For Starhill Global, it's value of investment properties has grown at a CAGR of 7.29% over a similar period.

Just to have some perspective on the size of these two retail REITs currently. The value of investment properties held by CapitalMall Trust as of Dec 17 is around $8.77 billion while the value of investment properties held by Starhill Global REIT is around $3.15 billion. We can see that the latter is less than half the size of the former in terms of the value investment properties held in it's portfolio. Thus, we are comparing a much bigger retail REIT player CapitaMall Trust which is focused on a Singapore retail mall market to a smaller global retail REIT player Starhill Global which is diversified across retail mall markets in different geographical regions.

In terms of net property income growth, Starhill Global has delivered close to 2% higher CAGR than CapitaMall Trust over the past 11 years which is significant. In terms of distributable income growth, Starhill Global loses marginally in less than 1% point to CapitaMall Trust in the CAGR of distributable income. Perhaps CapitaMall Trust is slightly more efficient in growing and managing it's cash available for the purpose of distributions despite producing a slightly lower growth in it's profitability as a retail landlord as compared to Starhill Global.

If we look at the growth in value of investment properties, Starhill Global REIT has been growing at a higher compounded annual rate at about 1% higher than CapitaMall Trust. This is not surprising due to the former which is a smaller retail player as compared to the latter with room to grow faster. The larger the investment property asset size a REIT owns, the slower growth it will likely experience as it needs to look to acquire more properties and also properties of larger value quantum as it grows larger in order to match it's previous growth rates. Also, the value of investment properties may fluctuate at times and properties in different geographical regions may be subjected to different valuations depending on the property market conditions affecting property valuations in the different regions and subsequently the growth in value of investment properties. A possible question to ask here is how do the valuations and the growth in valuations of retail mall properties in Singapore compare against that in KL Malaysia, Chengdu China, Tokyo Japan and the two places of Australia that Starhill Global REIT has properties in? Is a diversified strategy in this sense better than a Singapore focused strategy?

Other metrics of comparison such as overall occupancy rate and gearing are about similar for both retail REITs at more than 90% and about 30 plus % respectively. Thus on an overall basis, Starhill Global REIT a geographically diversified retail REIT player compares favourably to CapitaMall Trust a large established retail REIT based in Singapore.

Starhill Global REIT is currently trading at $0.72 and has a $0.91 NAV per unit and a distribution yield of about 5.99%. CapitaMall Trust is currently trading at $1.98 and has NAV per unit of $1.92 and distribution yield of about 5.64%. It seems that Starhill Global REIT is currently trading at a cheaper valuation versus CapitaMall Trust even though both are comparable in terms of their growth performance on net property income, distributable income and value of investment properties over the past 11 years.

Hi Sporeshare, I attached below a link to the Straits Times article which summarises what are the current developments in Starhill Global REIT which caused their overall drop in gross revenue, net property income and DPU for most recent performance.

The reasons given were due to:
1. the effects of straight-line rental adjustments.
2. higher withholding taxes for Malaysia and Australia properties.
3. weaker contributions from offices.

4. disruption of income from ongoing asset redevelopment works at Plaza Arcade in Perth.
5. lower revenue at Myer Centre Adelaide Australia.

The CEO of Starhill Global REIT commented that their Singapore retail portfolio has remained stable while new take-ups for office space were encouraging.

Also, the asset redevelopment works on Plaza Arcade and Lot 10 will likely be completed this first quarter meaning for the rest of this year, these two properties can start to contribute to revenue and net property income etc. again.

The chairman of Starhill Global REIT also made similar comment that earlier initiatives to rejuvenate the portfolio has been timely and the REIT will be in a good position to ride any retail sector upturn.

If we look at the reasons given for the recent few quarters weaker results and the replies by the CEO and Chairman, we should ask a question. Do these guys know what they are doing and are what the various actions they are carrying out currently for this REIT and unitholders make sense to grow the distributions for the long term?

As far as I can observe, some factors were not within their control to be fair to the management. Things like straight line rental adjustments and higher withholding taxes on Malaysia and Australia properties. This maybe one of the thing to look out for when investing in overseas properties. If Singapore has a comparatively lower tax on retail properties, then perhaps a Singapore focused retail property portfolio maybe better. But then again, there maybe certain tailwinds found in overseas retail mall markets which may not be present in Singapore especially if the growth element in retail mall market in our saturated tiny red dot is going to be limited going forward.

The CEO commented recent new office take ups were encouraging. Also, both CEO and Chairman thinks that sacrificing a few quarters of lower net property income and DPU to redevelop their Australian assets at this timely moment will ensure the assets there can capture the ride in retail sector upturn. Thus, I think it is only fair to give the REIT another few more quarters to see whether there is any improvement in their metrics such as gross revenue, net property income, distributable income and DPU. This will tell us whether what the management is doing currently really is of good foresight in terms of future benefits for the unitholders. Next few quarters, there are no more excuses such as asset redevelopment works affecting their performance. Let's see whether their performance picks up from here going forward in order to make a fair opinion on them. As of now, the various reasons given are reasonable in my opinion to explain why their various metrics are performing weaker.

Straits Times article Business section: Starhill Global Reit's DPU down in Q2 

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/starhill-global-reits-dpu-down-in-q2

To ride on the return to better profitability going forward......Let me also do a comparison against Suntec REIT to see how Suntec REIT pits against both CapitaMall Trust and Starhill Global REIT for the past 11 years. Then there is also Mapletree Commercial Trust also another touted good performer which is also a retail-office hybrid landlord to compare against. I am getting quite excited here.

I have tabulated Suntec REIT and Mapletree Commercial Trust's (MCT) growth performance to compare against Starhill Global REIT and CapitaMall Trust (CMT). However, for MCT, it was only listed from April 2011 onwards. As such, I have taken only the period from 2012 to 2017, a five year period of growth for MCT to compare against the rest.

Net property income CAGR for 11 years (5 years for MCT)
CMT = 7.42%
Starhill Global = 9.2%
Suntec REIT = 6.23%
MCT = 18.7%

Distributable income CAGR for 11 years (5 years for MCT)
CMT = 8.02%
Starhill Global = 7.2%
Suntec REIT = 9.71%
MCT = 25.5%

Value of investment properties CAGR for 11 years (5 years for MCT)
CMT = 6.1%
Starhill Global = 7.29%
Suntec REIT = 9.87%
MCT = 16.56%

The current gearings for these four REITs are quite close hovering around 35% plus minus 1 to 2 % points. Thus, they are financially geared about similar levels currently after rendering their respective historical CAGR growths in the past period considered.

If we ignore the duration of period considered, clearly the winner here is Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT). But, it would not be a fair comparison since the period considered for MCT is only most recent 5 years which the retail and office markets long way back and recent 5 years may have seen changes thus affecting the growth rates at different periods in time. The big question is whether going forward can MCT continue to grow at current CAGR? This is because the property asset size of MCT is also by no means smaller than some of the rest in this comparison. Thus, to give it some fairness even if the period of growth considered is only recent 5 years, it really has made impressive double digits CAGRs on it's various metrics on a large property asset base.

Suntec REIT seems also quite good in terms of growing it's distributable income and value of investment properties at close to 10% CAGR over the past 11 years winning over Starhill Global REIT and CMT by a large margin. The only thing is that the net property income CAGR for Suntec REIT loses out to the latter two despite having grown faster in it's distributable income and value of investment properties. Perhaps, it is worth investigating further for interest why Suntec REIT did not grow it's net property income at higher CAGR over the past 11 years? Is it a matter of difficulty in keeping property expenses low? Is it the gross revenue are not growing as fast due to generally lower rental income rates on it's properties over the years?

In conclusion, I see Mapletree Commercial Trust as experiencing strong growths in net property income, distributable income and the value of their investment properties even though their growth considered is only most recent 5 years. If it can continue at current or close to current CAGR for these various metrics over next few years, it may really become a clear winner in this segment of retail-office landlord space. Starhill Global REIT may not be a stark winner against it's peers in this comparison. However, it is definitely also not a loser trailing behind it's peers in terms of growth performance.

My picks as follows according to their growth performance.
1st = MCT
2nd= Suntec REIT
3rd (tie up) = Starhill Global REIT and CMT

Reasoning as follows: I like MCT for it's current high growth rate. I look forward to it's future developments whether it can continue to maintain the current high growth rate from it's future growth strategies. If it can do so, this is really one of the best performer in this retail-office landlord space.

Suntec REIT I like how it has rewarded unitholders well over time in terms of it's high growth rate in distributable income and growing it's property asset base through itself and also forming joint ventures with others. The only thing I would wish they could improve upon is to grow their net property income in step with their overall growth. If I am considering Suntec REIT, I will watch their future net property income closely for signs that they are growing their rental income on their properties well and also managing their property expenses more efficiently.

Starhill Global and CMT are lagging slightly behind the above two picks. If their growth going forward can be more exciting with their ongoing growth strategies, then I will upgrade my opinion on either or both of them to be on par or higher than MCT or Suntec REIT.

These are the unit price, NAV per unit and distribution yield for these four comparisons currently.

Unit price vs (NAV per unit)
MCT = $1.56 vs ($1.37)
Suntec REIT = $1.92 vs ($2.119)
Starhill Global REIT = $0.72 vs ($0.91)
CMT = $2 vs ($1.92)

Distribution yield
MCT = 5.77% (annualised based on 9M results)
Suntec REIT = 5.21%
Starhill Global REIT = 5.99% (annualised based on 1H results)
CMT = 5.64%

In terms of trading at cheap valuations, this is the ranking I give based on unit price vs NAV per unit and also their current distribution yield.

1st = Starhill Global REIT
2nd (tie up) = Suntec REIT and CMT
3rd = MCT

This proves the point that good things do not come cheap. MCT may rank as best growth performer in it's various important metrics considered earlier, it also comes with a not so cheap price tag. But, a thing worth considering is that if MCT can continue to grow at current growth rates, perhaps at an annualised distribution yield of 5.77% is still worth some nibbling.

If a bear market should come soon, at least one will now know which are the strong growth performers that can be snapped up at a rare discounted price. There are certainly more REITs to compare against these few whether in similar retail-office landlord sector or other REIT sectors and I am sure this is not the end to the comparison in this REIT universe as one may just be surprised that there maybe even better performers out there than MCT.

PS: I will hope a bear market comes soon and then shopping for REITs will be a real bargain as discounts will be everywhere even for excellent REITs. My target buy-in prices will be the lower the better for these few REITs mentioned. {

jeremyowtaip}

some exchange discussion:

Gearing ratio is average relative to other similar players. Though I don't like to see it go up to max 45%.

But of cos if it's needed, they could still gear up for acquisition or even raise rights for funding, happy to participate as long as its yield lucrative.

To me most impt is the reit manager, a strong track records are impt.

To buy a retail reits under 1x PB is hard to find in current market environment and of course we cannot compare to capital mall reits, investor pay a premium for them.

For me buy a below 1x PB is always nice to have with a 5-6% yield.

Yup! For REITs, we look at their gearing. The allowed limit REITs can geared up to by MAS ruling is maximum 45% for credit rated REITs and 35% for non-credit rated REITs. Gearing is calculated by taking the total borrowings divided by total assets expressed as a %. These gearing limits have been revised to current allowed limit. It used to be even higher in the past. Thus, a lower gearing limit ensures REITs maintain a safe reasonable debt level and do not over leverage excessively which can be risky.

For Starhill Global REIT, it's gearing is currently close to 35% which is comparable to many REITs in Singapore too. There are some REITs with even lower gearing but around 30% to 40% is where you will find most REITs tend to maintain their gearings.

35.3 % gearing is normal. Other reits as high as Kepple Reit 38.7%, Viva Trust 39.8%, Soilbuild Reit 40.6%, MLT 37.8% etc..