City Developments, Singapore’s second-largest developer, said first-quarter profit fell 12% after a one-time gain wasn’t repeated.
Net income slid to $137.6 million in the three months ended March 31, from $156.8 million a year earlier, it said in Singapore exchange statement today. Sales fell 9.8% to $763.5 million.
“The main reason for the drop in revenue was due to the Tagore Avenue warehouse that was disposed-off in the first quarter of 2012,” the company said in the statement.
Singapore’s private residential property price index rose 0.6% in the three months ended March 31, the slowest pace in three quarters after government curbs. The latest measures in January, the seventh round of curbs in about four years, included an increase in the stamp duties for homebuyers by 5 percentaage points to 7 percentage points.
The company’s shares rose 0.9% to $11.60 today. The results were announced after the close of trade. The stock has declined 9.5% this year, the worst performer among 41 developers and REITs on the Singapore property index.
City Developments started marketing two new projects in the quarter, the 912-unit D’Nest condominium and Bartley Ridge, a 868-unit joint-venture development, the company said today. It had rented out 94% of the space in its office buildings as of March 31, compared with the national average occupancy of 90.8%, it said.
The developer, the biggest shareholder of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Plc, said last month its South Korea unit bought a 1,564-square-meter (16,834-square-foot) site adjacent to its Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel for a new hospitality property.
City Developments opened its 240-room W Singapore Sentosa Cove hotel on Oct. 20.
Source : Edge – 13 May 2013
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