Citicore Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT) reported strong net income growth for last year, fueled by its strategic expansion efforts.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, April 2, the country's first renewable energy real estate investment trust (REIT) said its profit reached P1.4 billion from January to December 2023, a 12 percent increase from its previous year.

According to CREIT, this was due to its expansion of the green asset portfolio which racked up the company revenues by 31 percent or P1.8 billion.

A strong guaranteed base lease that was added by the new properties CREIT acquired last year became a factor in its growth for the entire year.

Subsequently, the green energy firm generated steady lease revenues compared with the pure electricity sales during the beginning of its operations. As of last year, Citicore Energy finished its second year run as a full-pledged REIT company.

Last month, Philippine conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) acquired 28.79 percent of CREIT’s interest, resulting in a 32.88 percent effective ownership. This would mean that they are the largest stakeholder in the green energy company.

CREIT President and Chief Executive Officer Oliver Tan believed that SMIC’s investment supports the company’s outlook.

“As a trusted partner, we remain committed to further building on our green asset portfolio, anchored on Citicore Renewable Energy Corp.’s [CREC] plan to pursue its 5GW growth pipeline in the next five years,” he said.

The sponsorship proceeds will help push through the developments of CREC’s 1,583 megawatt (MW) ready-to-build solar power projects, contributing to at least 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar energy capacity annually under its five-year plan.

These green energy projects are spread across eight sites nationwide.

“This expansion is likewise expected to fuel the growth of CREIT’s property assets, being CREC’s primary landlord,” CREIT added.

Meanwhile, the successful 2023 performance generated a 4.3 times growth in the company’s unique green asset portfolio since the initial public offering in 2022.

CREIT chief said that the generated income in 2023 would benefit the company’s shareholders as well, stating that “[this] allows us to continuously increase value to our shareholders by declaring dividends beyond the mandated 90 percent of distributable income.”

The total dividend in 2023 was valued at P0.199 a share, higher than the P0.183 in its previous year.

CREIT’s closing price during the yearend was P2.56 per share, while its dividend yield was at 7.8 percent.

Furthermore, the company successfully paid out 106 percent of its distributable income due to the guaranteed and variable leases that exceeded the required 90 percent as per the REIT Law.

In February 2023, CREIT became a constituent of the PSE Dividend Yield Index.