SingHaiyi Q3 profit down 36.7%, but rental income stable

SINGHAIYI Group's net profit dropped 36.7 per cent in its fiscal third quarter in the absence of year-ago development sales, but rental income was stable.

The property development group also explained its new plans for a San Francisco project, a change that was only disclosed in passing in January.

SingHaiyi's net profit for the three months to December 2014 was S$2.5 million, or 0.086 Singapore cents per share. For the nine months to December, net profit fell 57.4 per cent to S$5.3 million, or 0.188 Singapore cents.

SingHaiyi shares closed flat at 14.6 Singapore cents on Friday before the results were announced.

The profit drop in the third quarter was largely because the year-ago period recorded S$9.3 million in property development revenue from sales at Charlton Residences. Rental income, however, was mostly flat, declining by a modest 0.3 per cent to S$3.89 million, while management fee income stayed flat at S$210,000.

SingHaiyi said that it will no longer develop the existing office at 5 Thomas Mellon Circle in San Francisco into a 528-unit continuing care retirement community for senior residents, as originally planned.

Instead, the company will now build a 511-unit residential condominium to replace the office building after deciding that the condominium will "generate better investment returns".