First Sponsor's Q3 profit pales in absence of big year-ago sale

FIRST Sponsor Group posted a 21.4 per cent drop in net profit during its fiscal third quarter as it could not match a sizeable site sale from a year ago.

The China-focused property developer and financing services provider said net profit fell to S$14.9 million, or 2.56 Singapore cents per share, for the three months to September 30.

Nine-month net earnings stood at S$2.4 million, or 0.52 Singapore cent per share, down 93.7 per cent year on year.

Revenue for the quarter shrank by 37.6 per cent to S$54.7 million, in part because year-ago numbers got a lift from the company's August 2013 sale of a mixed-use development site for S$81.3 million before tax.

First Sponsor shares closed flat at S$1.23 on Friday before the results were announced.