VistaREIT amends its disclosure, cumulative divs reach 90% of distributable income

Yesterday, I wrote about the VistaREIT [VREIT 1.73, down 0.6%; 0% avgVol] Q4 dividend [link], and how (despite its gargantuan size) it was insufficient to drag VREIT’s cumulative FY23 dividends up above 90% of its reported distributable income for FY23 as required by the REIT Law. I speculated that the amount listed in the disclosure was likely an error. At 10:44 AM, VREIT submitted an amendment [link] to its dividend declaration disclosure to say its Q4 distributable income was actually P506.836 million, not P546 million as originally reported. The change brings VREIT’s Q4 payout ratio up to 79.6%, and its cumulative FY23 payout ratio up to 90.6%, in compliance with the REIT Law.

MB bottom-line: I saw a few “shenanigans” comments online after the amendment was posted, but to the Villar Family’s credit, at least they didn’t amend the Q4 distributable income to magically resolve VREIT’s FY23 payout ratio to exactly 90.0%. That extra 0.6% is just a little token of VREIT’s appreciation. Not a bribe or anything, but more like a “no strings attached donation” to the shareholders. I’m just joking. I really just wanted to pat myself on the back because it can be quite anxiety-inducing to hit “SEND” on a newsletter and be potentially wrong about a calculation that should be so simple.

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