Metro records S$19.8m net profit for H1, down 5.7%

METRO Holdings recorded net profit attributable to shareholders of S$19.8 million for the first half ended Sept 30, down 5.7 per cent from the year-ago period.

In results released on Thursday after market close, it disclosed that although revenue plunged 71.5 per cent to S$36.7 million amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the results were boosted by an increase in the share of profit from joint ventures - mainly due to higher contributions of S$16.1 million from the Singapore residential project, The Crest.

The property investment and retail group did not release separate figures for the second quarter.

Earnings per share for the first half were 2.4 Singapore cents, down slightly from 2.5 Singapore cents in the year-ago period. No dividend was declared.

For the first half of FY2021, the property division's revenue fell to S$11.5 million, down from S$67.1 million in the year-ago period. Metro attributed this to lower sales of property rights of residential developments in Jakarta, which were hit by the pandemic.

The property segment's earnings were S$9.7 million in H1 2021, down from S$17.2 million in H1 2020.

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Retail division revenue fell to S$25.2 million, down from S$61.7 million in the year-ago period. This was mainly due to the absence of contribution from Metro Centrepoint, which closed in October 2019, and lower sales in department stores in Singapore during the "circuit-breaker" period.

The retail segment recorded a loss of S$0.8 million for the first six months. Group chief executive officer Yip Hoong Mun said that the two stores in Singapore will continue to leverage online platforms against a challenging retail backdrop.

Metro said that it expects its investment properties to provide a stable source of recurring income for resilient growth.

Asset enhancement works have been completed for Shanghai Plaza and Phase 1 of The Atrium Mall in Chengdu; both properties opened in September. Average occupancy remains high at 92.3 per cent for the group's five investment properties in Singapore, Shanghai, Guangzhou and London.