Fragrance Group's net profit up 20.5% in Q2

FRAGRANCE Group posted a net profit of S$5.38 million for its second quarter, up 20.5 per cent from a year ago.

Revenue went up 62.5 per cent to S$56.8 million, on account of higher contributions from its City Gate development project in Singapore, rental revenue from commercial properties, and full quarter hotel operations income from ibis Styles Hobart, in Australia, which commenced operations in July 2017.

Earnings per share stood at 0.10 Singapore cent, up from 0.06 cent previously.

No dividend was declared.

The group flagged that property market sentiments are expected to be affected in the short term due to the latest round of cooling measures.

Fragrance Group has secured two sites for development namely 205 Jalan Eunos and 31 Jervois Road. The group has completed the purchase of 31 Jervious Road and expects to complete the purchase of 205 Jalan Eunos in H2 2018. The group is actively working on the redevelopment plans of these two projects.

City Gate, the mixed development project in which the group has a 50 per cent interest, is nearing its completion. With 99.7 per cent of the residential units and 76.1 per cent of the commercial units already sold, the group expects to "receive healthy cashflow" upon its completion.

The group is also continuing its efforts to increase the occupancy of its investment properties in Singapore.

In Australia, the group is actively working on its various development projects in Australia. Construction works for Premier Tower and NV Apartments are in full swing and marketing efforts are ongoing to sell the remaining units in these two projects as well as the 555 Collins project.

As for the UK, the group's three hotel investment properties, namely The Crown Hotel, Lyndene Hotel and The Townhouse Hotel, will provide stable recurring income in FY2018.