Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis-REIT) recorded a higher pre-tax profit of RM24.26 million in its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010, compared to RM10.25 million in the same period last year.

Revenue increased to RM22.39 million from RM17.67 million previously, said Axis REIT Managers Bhd (ARMB), the manager of Axis-REIT, in a statement today.

ARMB said the trust's current quarter earnings per unit which included unrealised income stood at 7.60 sen. Of this, the realisable income of RM12.589 million translated to a declared distribution per unit of four sen for the third quarter.

On Sept 5, Axis-REIT declared a third interim income distribution of 3.05 sen per unit, amounting to RM9.365 million, in respect of the realised income from the July 1 to Sept 5 period.

Therefore, the balance 0.95 sen distribution per unit for the third quarter will be deferred and payable together with the final 2010 income distribution before end of February next year, it said.

ARMB said the total number of units issued had increased from 307,081,200 to 375,901,000, increasing the liquidity and market capitalisation of the trust to RM811.95 million.

It said that seven of the trust's properties were subjected to comprehensive valuation in the third quarter as part of the requirement of the Securities Commission (SC) guidelines on REITs.

This has resulted in an unrealised fair value gain of RM11.702 million, thus bringing the total fair value gain for year-to-date to RM22.58 million, resulting in the increase of the net asset value per unit of the trust to RM1.8891.

ARMB said the balance of the nine properties which are not subjected to the SC guidelines for comprehensive valuation will be revalued by the last quarter of this year via update valuation to be conducted by independent valuers. -- Bernama