First Sponsor's Q1 earnings up 16.4%

Singapore

SALES in China helped to boost performance for First Sponsor Group, which announced on Thursday a 16.4 per cent increase in its first-quarter net profit.

First Sponsor posted net earnings of S$14.24 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017, up from Q1 2016's S$12.23 million. Earnings per share stood at 2.41 Singapore cents, compared with 2.07 Singapore cents the year before.

First Sponsor's Q1 revenue was S$81.35 million, a 78.6 per cent increase from S$45.56 million the previous year. This was due mainly to the increase in revenue from sale of properties and hotel operations, partially offset by the decrease in rental income from investment properties and revenue from property financing. The rise in revenue from sale of properties resulted from the h…