Why did MLT’s DPU fall 7%?
The headline looks ugly. For the fourth quarter of the year ending 31 March 2026 (4QFY2026), MLT’s distribution per unit (DPU) fell 7.0% year on year (YoY) to S$0.018. Look one layer down and the story changes. The drop came from the absence of divestment gains...The first half of 2026 was kind to Singapore’s stock market.
The SPDR STI ETF (SGX: ES3), which tracks the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), returned 13.1% for the six months.
Not every blue chip came along for the ride.
Three well-known REITs sat at the back of the pack.
Mapletree Logistics Trust (SGX: M44U), or MLT, delivered -4.9% in total returns.
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (SGX: A17U), or CLAR, came in at -8.1%.
Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), or MPACT, posted -9.7%.
Each trailed the index by more than 18 percentage points.
A gap that wide invites a question.
Are these REITs broken, or simply out of favour?
The answer starts by reading past the headlines.
