First Sponsor marks 13.1% growth in Q3 profit

FIRST Sponsor achieved a 13.1 per cent growth in net profit to S$19.33 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30 on the back of higher development income.

Revenue during the quarter grew 11.5 per cent to S$80.35 million due mainly to higher revenue from sale of properties of S$16.8 million, which was partially offset by a decrease in revenue from property financing of S$8.6 million.

The increase in revenue from sale of properties during the quarter from a year ago mainly resulted from the higher number of units in the Millennium Waterfront project handed over in the current quarter.

Revenue from property financing slumped 91.6 per cent to S$800,000 in the third quarter. This decrease was due mainly to various loan defaults in December 2015 and January 2016. No interest was recognised on the S$130.6 million loans after the point of default.

On the Millennium Waterfront project, group CEO Neo Teck Pheng said that the project has achieved its best quarter for the year so far with 373 residential units sold, a 12 per cent increase as compared to the previous quarter.

Capitalising on this strong buying sentiment, the group increased selling price by a few percentage points in September and made two further rounds of price increase in early October 2016.

"Pre-sales have continued to be encouraging with 352 residential units sold during the first three weeks of October 2016," he said. "The group is cautious of the current buying interest and plans to launch Plot D, the last and best residential plot in the Millennium Waterfront project, for sale as soon as possible to ride on this exceptional market demand."