First Sponsor Q1 profit up 20.3% on property financing, holding

FIRST Sponsor Group's net profit for the first quarter of 2018 rose 20.3 per cent to S$17.1 million from S$14.2 million a year ago, as higher income from property financing and property holding outweighed lower revenue from property sales.

Earnings per share for the quarter came in at 2.90 Singapore cents from 2.41 Singapore cents for the year-ago period.

The property developer, with a focus on the Netherlands and China, said revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018 fell 42.6 per cent to S$47.8 million from S$83.3 million, due mainly to the a S$60.4 million drop in revenue from the sale of properties.

This was offset by the increase in revenue from property financing, hotel operations and rental income from investment properties of S$18.2 million, S$6.1 million and S$0.6 million respectively.

Of the profit generated from property financing, the group recognised another S$7.7 million of penalty interest income during the quarter upon the receipt of net auction proceeds from the successful enforcement on a 64 million yuan defaulted loan.

Looking ahead, First Sponsor said it expects to commence the handover of its fully pre-sold residential units in Plot D of the Millennium Waterfront project in Chengdu, Sichuan from Q4 2018 to 2019. Correspondingly, the development profit will be recognised progressively from late 2018 to 2019.