Carlton Savannah REIT (CREIT), the property investment company whose portfolio, so far, is a small stake in a Trinidadian hotel complex, is yet to report revenue from its core operation, two months after the soft launch of the Carlton Savannah Hotel in Port of Spain.

But the listed CREIT, which has applied for a name change to Kingston Properties - a moniker that better reflect its investment ambitions - told investors in recent stock exchange filings that it expects to begin seeing rental flows from this month, following the August 31 formal opening of the hotel.

CREIT owns seven of Carlton Savannah's 165 apartments/rooms, bought with the proceeds of a June 2008 initial public offering that listed 68.8 million shares.

First quarter

In its first quarter results CREIT had announced that the first 30 of Carlton Savannah's apartments/suites as well as its restaurants would have been available to paying guests on June 1, with the remainder, plus restaurants and spas, coming on stream a month later.

The implication was that the income stream would have begun to flow from then, but that was not indicated in the firm's second quarter financial report although it reported that occupancy over the first two months of the soft launch averaged 65 per cent.

However, Fayval Williams, CREIT's executive director, could not immediately say what income was generated and, therefore, what the firm's expected share was.

Proportional share

CREIT's return will come from its proportional share of the profits generated by the hotel rooms, which is to be split between the investors and the hotel operating company on a 65 per cent to 35 per cent basis.

Despite not yet having income from its primary business, CREIT in the second quarter recorded net profit of $15.9 million - the result mostly of unrealised foreign exchange gains and investment income of $17.9 million.

Total comprehensive income for the period was $54.8 million, including a $38.9 million gain from translation of foreign operations.

Earnings per share at $0.23 was up three cents from $0.20 at the end of the seven months to December 2008.

At the end of June, CREIT had total assets of $531 million, of which property under construction accounted for $380.7 million, while assets in the form of cash and cash equivalent stood at $150.6 million.

Williams said the company, which is awaiting approval for its name change, is looking around for investment opportunities, but said nothing was formalised.

"Until we have a signed deal on paper we would not want to say anything, but there has been a lot of discussion," she said.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com