REAL estate agency APAC Realty on Monday posted a net profit of S$5.5 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, up 33.3 per cent from a year ago.

Q4 revenue came in at S$107.8 million, up 31.7 per cent from S$81.9 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This was on the back of higher brokerage income from new home sales, as well as resale and rental of properties.

Earnings per share was 1.54 Singapore cents compared with 1.15 cents previously.

For the full year, net profit fell 42.2 per cent to S$14 million from S$24.2 million previously, on lower revenue that was down 12.8 per cent to S$369.5 million.

The soft performance resulted from a 15.7 per cent decline in brokerage income from resale and rental of properties, and an 8.1 per cent decline in income from new home sales.

Full-year earnings per share was 3.94 cents compared with 6.83 cents in FY2018.

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"Although the property cooling measures implemented in July 2018 continued to depress sentiment and weaken home buyer interest, the market showed signs of improvement in FY2019, in particular the primary market and HDB resale market," said executive chairman and CEO Jack Chua.

He noted that property developer Wing Tai Asia sold about 70 per cent or more than 360 units of its latest condominium project The M over the weekend.

APAC Realty has declared a second and final dividend of 1.25 cents per ordinary share for the period under review, compared with 2.5 cents in the corresponding period of the previous year. The aggregate dividend for FY2019 is two cents per share.

APAC Realty shares closed down one cent or 2.08 per cent to S$0.47 on Monday before the results were announced.