Banyan Tree Q1 profit dives 74% to S$5.2m on lower revenue

RESORT operator Banyan Tree Holdings has posted a 74 per cent drop in net profit to S$5.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, from S$20.2 million a year ago, due to lower revenue across all segments.

Earnings per share fell to 0.62 Singapore cent, from 2.4 cents a year ago. No dividend has been declared for the period, unchanged from a year ago, according to a regulatory filing late on Wednesday.

Banyan Tree shares closed at S$0.54, down 0.92 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent, on Wednesday.

The group's revenue fell 17 per cent year on year to S$81.2 million from S$98.2 million.

Its hotel investments segment revenue fell 12 per cent to S$60.2 million from S$68.3 million a year ago. This was because the group stopped consolidating results from its Seychelles hotels after its November 2018 disposal. Its performance in Thailand was also affected by on-going renovations at Banyan Tree Phuket, Banyan Tree said.

The property sales segment saw a 56 per cent drop in revenue to S$6.5 million, from S$14.8 million a year ago, from the completion of Cassia Bintan (Phase 2) and Cassia Phuket (Phase 2) condominiums in the first quarter of 2018, and fourth quarter of 2017 respectively.

Sold units were "substantively recognised" when progressively handed over to buyers from Q4 2017 to Q1 2018. For the first quarter this year, the group recognised 10 units, compared with 29 units a year ago.

As for its fee-based segment, revenue fell 4 per cent to S$14.5 million from S$15.1 million a year ago, due to lower licensing fees from the group's China hotels.

On outlook, the group said that based on hotel forward bookings for Q2, overall forward bookings is 11 per cent higher than a year ago, with hotels in Thailand 6 per cent higher and hotels outside of Thailand 26 per cent higher.

For its property sales segment, deposits for 86 units with total sales value of S$44.4 million were received for Q1 2019, versus 99 units with total sales value of S$56.4 million for Q1 2018. The group said it has unrecognised revenue of S$222.1 million as at March 31, 2019, compared to S$209.8 million as at March 31, 2018. Around 40 per cent of this is expected to be "progressively recognised" in the upcoming quarters this year.