Fragrance Group's earnings for Q3 down by 47.5% to S$2.2m

MAINBOARD-LISTED real estate developer Fragrance Group's net profit dived 47.5 per cent from S$4.2 million to S$2.2 million in the third quarter, as a result of a 20 per cent decline in its revenue and lower contributions from its joint venture.

Fragrance reported S$44.7 million in revenue in the three months ended September. Its revenue for the corresponding period in the preceding year was S$55.9 million.

Earnings per share (EPS) dropped from  0.06 Singapore cents to 0.03 Singapore cents, while net asset value was slightly lower at 16.1 Singapore cents as at Sept 30 versus 16.4 Singapore cents as at Dec 31 last year.

However, the firm has declared an interim dividend of 0.2 Singapore cent, payable on Nov 30. No interim dividend was declared a year ago.

For the nine months, Fragrance Group generated a net profit of S$17.5 million, 30.8 per cent higher than last year's S$13.4 million. Revenue came in at S$167.2 million or  24.3 per cent improvement from S$134.5 million. EPS rose from 20 Singapore cents to 26 Singapore cents in this period.

In its Singapore Exchange results filing, Fragrance Group said that it had applied to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for a change of use for the property at 15 Hoe Chiang Road to full hotel usage and had obtained its advice that rezoning is allowed subject to various conditions.

The group has paid the rezoning fee and noted that the proposed amendment to the master plan has been processed. It has made a planning submission and obtained an advisory from URA in October 2018 and is in the midst of complying with the various technical requirements. The change of use will result in a "substantial uplift" to the fair value of the property, of approximately S$210 million.

The counter was 0.4 Singapore cent higher at 14.3 Singapore cents on Nov 14 when the markets closed.