Metro Holdings' Q1 FY2016 profit jumps 270%

DESPITE strong headwinds in the retail sector, mainboard-listed Metro Holdings achieved a 269.9 per cent increase in net profit to S$37.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, from S$10.15 million in the corresponding period last year.

The property development and investment group backed by established retail operations in the region saw a 36.8 per cent climb in revenue from S$31.2 million to S$42.7 million over the same period, mainly due to higher turnover driven by the retail division's new Metro Centrepoint store in Singapore, which commenced operations in the third quarter of FY2015, and strong support for Metro Sengkang's closing-down sale.

This helped to reduce the retail division's losses, which declined to S$1.2 million in Q1 FY2016 from S$1.6 million in Q1 FY2015.

The group's profit before tax climbed to S$42.6 million in Q1 FY2016, from S$11.2 million in Q1 FY2015. The increase was led by higher share of results of joint ventures, which rose to S$47 million in Q1 FY2016 from S$7.4 million in Q1 FY2015, driven mainly by a S$41.7 million gain on the disposal of EC Mall in Beijing.

Earnings per share improved from 1.2 Singapore cents in Q1 FY2015 to 4.5 Singapore cents in Q1 FY2016.