Metro H2 net profit surges 50.5% to S$17m; revenue falls

METRO Holdings on Tuesday posted a 50.5 per cent surge in net profit to S$17 million for the second half of the year ended March 31, 2021, up from S$11.3 million in the same period last year.

The bottomline growth came even as the property investment and retail group's revenue for the period fell 25.7 per cent to S$60.6 million, largely due to lower contributions from its property segment and the impact from Covid-19.

Earnings per share stood at 4.4 Singapore cents for the full year ended March 31, 2021, up from 3.9 cents a year ago, according to Metro's financial results released on Tuesday. (see Amendment note)

Revenue for H2 fell 25.7 per cent to S$60.6 million, from S$81.5 million a year ago.

However, Metro saw a fair-value gain on investment property this half compared to a significant loss last year and the loss from the share of results of associates, net of tax more than halved from last year, contributing towards the increased net profit.

The retail segment inched up 0.7 per cent in revenue to S$47.5 million in H2 FY2021.

Segment results registered a marginal profit of S$0.3 million in H2, after including rental rebates granted by landlords, property tax rebates and government support totalling S$3.1 million.

This compared with a year ago where it posted a profit of S$10.3 million in H2 FY2020 that included a divestment gain of S$10.6 million from the disposal of the group's 50 per cent equity interest in its associate in Indonesia. Excluding the divestment gain, Metro recorded segment loss of S$0.3 million in H2 FY2020.

Revenue for the group's property division plunged 61.8 per cent to S$13.1 million, pushed down by lower revenue recognition from the sale of property rights of its residential development properties in Bekasi and Bintaro, Jakarta because of the pandemic.

Totalling up an ordinary final dividend of two Singapore cents and a special dividend of 0.25 cent, a final cash dividend of 2.25 cents per share was proposed for the full year. This is up from the final dividend of two cents per share recommended a year ago. The date payable will be announced later.

For the full year ended March 31, 2021, net profit was up 14 per cent to S$36.8 million, while revenue dropped 53.7 per cent to S$97.3 million.

The counter rose 6.08 per cent to S$0.785 when market closed on Tuesday, after Metro released its financial results.

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Metro's earnings per share for the full year ended March 31, 2020 was 11.6 cents. It was in fact 3.9 cents. The article above has been revised to reflect this.