Tee Land almost trebles its losses for FY2019, sinks S$23.8 million into the red

MAINBOARD-LISTED developer Tee Land sank deeper into the red in its latest full year, no thanks to selling The Peak @ Cairnhill I units at a loss during the period.

Tee Land notched a widening net loss of S$23.8 million for the 12 months to May 31, nearly three times worse than the S$8.69 million the year before, according to results released on Tuesday.

The deeper losses came amid a 7.9 per cent fall in turnover, to S$8.7 million, on lower revenue from Third Avenue in Malaysia and the absence of contributions from two other projects.

Thirteen units at The Peak were moved at a gross loss of S$1.3 million, while Tee Land rang up variation orders and extra costs at Third Avenue, on certain construction requirements. Compensation for a delay in delivering Third Avenue units, as well as a rental guarantee for shop units affected by the soft Malaysian rental market, also affected the group's showing.

Besides the jump in cost of sales, the bottom line was hurt by a fall in other operating income from the lack of an unrealised currency gain and absence of dividend from a former Thai associate, while the group's share of results from associates turned negative amid losses at that associate, before Tee Land's divestment.

Tee Land said in a statement that if the impact of new accounting standards, one-off costs and non-cash items were excluded, it would have notched a pre-tax profit of S$400,000, instead of the S$26.2 million pre-tax loss that it actually recorded.

The group made a loss per share of 5.33 Singapore cents for the full year, widening from a loss per share of 1.95 Singapore cents the previous year, while net asset value was 27.1 Singapore cents a share, down from 32.8 Singapore cents before.

"The group will take a cautious approach when seeking opportunities to acquire new land sites and in making any investments," Tee Land said in its outlook statement.

Describing the Singapore residential market as challenging, the company warned that delays in achieving full sales or completing of its projects, under regulatory timelines, "could also adversely affect the group's performance".

It added that the performance of its overseas businesses is expected to be hit by a mix of local political events and currency movements.

No dividend was recommended for the period - compared with a full-year pay-out of 0.4 Singapore cent a share for the year prior - which the board said was "on grounds of prudence".

The counter closed flat at S$0.167, before the results were released.