It’s been a while since I attended a shareholder AGM (Annual General Meeting) this year. My last attended AGM was the Maybank and Public Bank Virtual AGM, both AGM were conducted online.
For many years I’ve been attending the physical AGM of YTLReit. For this year however I decided to attend their virtual AGM (YTLReit) to see what the Reit managers have to say about this tough year (2020) given that its share price at RM 0.71 is at an all time low since its listing. Given that the stock has an NAV (Net asset value) of RM 1.50, it does seems the REIT is severely undervalued.
Tan Sri Francis Yeoh was around to chair the meeting with his brother Dato Mark Yeoh. A total of 600 viewers attended the virtual AGM online.
I didn’t really listened to the entire AGM but basically here were the key points
1) YTLReit did not give a rental holiday to its tenants, only a rental deferring which has to be paid back in the next few years when the Covid19 situation has improved.
2) Tan Sri Francis Yeoh reiterates that YTLReit has got a strong parent company backing in the form of YTL Corporation and all its directors are on no pay until Dec.
3) Employee of the company accepted a pay cut in view of the Covid19 situation.
4) Tan Sri Francis Yeoh hinted that the Reit is currently undervalued and he is purchasing it himself inview of this undervaluation.
5) The Malaysian business has seen some recovery until the MCO 2 started while their Australia hotel business is venturing into the pandemic business but having their property used as quarantine centres (government contract). I didn’t catch anything about the Japanese business so I can’t comment it here yet.
6) Both the Japanese and Malaysian properties are under master lease arrangement which should provide less impact to the REIT because master lease is basically a long term rental to a hotel operator, whether or not the operator makes money, rental still has to be paid. At the moment, YTLReit seems to have given some rental deferment to the hotel operators in Japan and Malaysia.
