City Developments' Q3 earnings fall 8.3% to S$156.1m

SMALLER one-off gains and the absence of "lumpy" contributions from project completions compared to a year ago weighed down results for City Developments (CDL) in its third quarter.

Net profit sank 8.3 per cent to S$156.1 million from the preceding year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday evening.

For the three months ended Sept 30, revenue sank 6.5 per cent to S$863.1 million from the preceding year.

The drop in revenue was primarily due to the absence of revenue recognition from Jewel@Buangkok which completed in Q3 2016; Hanover House in Reading, United Kingdom; as well as lower contribution from its D'Nest and Coco Palms projects.

"With the exception of Singapore private residential sales, the booking of revenues and profits from development projects tends to be lumpy, as executive condominium (EC) and overseas projects are largely recognised in their entirety upon completion; for Singapore private residential sales, the timing of recognition is dependent on the stage of construction and sales progress," CDL said.

The developer added that its Q3 and year-to-date results were boosted by a gain following the divestment of a non-core office building in Osaka. In comparison, results for the corresponding year-ago period also included a gain from the divestment of the group's interest in its subsidiary City e-Solutions and the full recognition of revenue and profit of Lush Acres, a fully sold EC.

"Excluding these one-off items, the group's year-to-date September 2017 profit after tax and minority interests actually increased by 3.5 per cent."

For the third quarter, earnings per share dipped to 17.2 Singapore cents from 18.7 Singapore cents in the previous year.

Net asset value per share edged up to 10.38 Singapore cents as at Sept 30, from 10.22 Singapore cents three months ago.

Dividend per preference share edged up to 1.97 Singapore cents, up from 1.96 Singapore cents in the previous year. It will be paid on Jan 2, 2018.

Dividends for ordinary shares are given out in the half-year and full-year periods only.