Singapore's CapitaLand Q1 net profit falls 1.7%

CapitaLand, Singapore-based property major in Southeast Asia, reported on Friday a net profit of 182.8 million Singapore dollars (145.5 million U.S. dollars) in first quarter (Q1) in financial year (FY) 2014, down 1.7 percent year on year. The lower profit was mainly due to a 58.7 million Singapore dollars (46.7 million U.S. dollars) one-off gain recorded in the same quarter last year. Excluding the one-off gain, CapitaLand's operating net profit increased by 29.9 percent on year in Q1 to 155.7 million Singapore dollars (124.0 million U.S. dollars), mainly due to higher development profits and improved performance from its shopping malls. However, the company's revenue still fell by 3.4 percent in Q1 on year to 612.6 million Singapore dollars (487.7 million U.S. dollars), on a lower contribution from its Singapore operation, the company's announcement handed to the Singapore Exchange showed on Friday. In Singapore, CapitaLand said it sold 34 residential units, which amounted to a total sales value of 87.0 million Singapore dollars (69.3 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. Meanwhile, there were 1,177 residential units sold in China during the same period, with a sales value of 269.0 million Singapore ( 214.2 million U.S. dollars). The property major's Singapore unit reported revenue decreasing by 37.7 percent on year, while its China unit reported higher revenue, up 56.2 percent to 82 million Singapore dollars (65.3 million U.S. dollars) in the same quarter. As at the end of March this year, business in China accounted for 38 percent of the company's total assets of 41.3 billion Singapore dollars (32.9 billion U.S. dollars), following Singapore at 44 percent. Lim Ming Yan, President and the Group CEO of CapitaLand, said the company would "further harnessing the key strengths" of the company's various businesses in residential, shopping malls, offices, serviced residences and integrated developments. Singapore and China will also remain as the company's core markets, he added. The company recently launched an offer worth 3.06 billion Singapore dollars (2.44 billion U.S. dollars) for CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) to privatise the 65.3 percent subsidiary.