CDL surprises shareholders with distribution of CDLHT units

PROPERTY and hospitality group City Developments Ltd (CDL) C09 is proposing to reward its shareholders with a total payout of 31.1 Singapore cents for FY2021, the bulk of it from a special distribution in specie amounting to 11.7 per cent of the units in CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT).

This came as the group swung into the black with a net profit of S$129.7 million for its second half ended Dec 31, 2021, compared with a net loss of S$1.92 billion in the year-ago period. Full-year 2021, the group posted a net profit of S$97.7 million, reversing the net loss of S$1.92 billion in FY2020.

The group plunged into the red in 2020 on the back of a S$1.78 billion impairment on its investment in China-based Sincere Property Group, effectively writing down 93 per cent of its ill-fated S$1.9 billion investment in Sincere. Last September, CDL exited Sincere. CDL saw its hotel operations segment - hit by the Covid-19 pandemic - return to profitability in H2 FY2021, and also expects an imminent rebound in the sector. Kwek Leng Beng, the group's 81-year-old executive chairman, envisages a boost for the hotel business from pent up demand for tourism and corporate travel. "At the same time, to generate sustainable returns for shareholders, we will be agile and opportunistic to redeploy our capital to acquire assets in resilient sectors," he said. Earnings per share stood at 13.6 Singapore cents for the half-year period, reversing from a loss per share of 212.5 cents a year ago.