UIC full-year net profit falls 35% to S$260.55 million on lower fair value gains

UNITED Industrial Corporation (UIC) has posted a group net profit of S$260.55 million for the year ended Dec 31, 2015, a drop of 35 per cent from the S$397.99 million that it reported in the previous year.

The decline was on the back of a big decrease in fair value gain on investment properties to S$18 million last year from S$167.25 million in FY2014.

Revenue rose 16 per cent to S$807.20 million, due mainly to higher revenue recognised on the sales of trading properties.

Gross rental income from investment properties dipped 2 per cent to S$271.1 million.

Finance expenses rose 61 per cent to S$12.59 million, due mainly to higher interest rates and higher average borrowings arising from UIC's voluntary cash offer for Singapore Land shares in 2014.

Earnings per share fell to 18.6 Singapore cents in FY2015 from 28.7 cents in FY2014.

Net asset value per share rose to S$4.24 at end-2015 from S$4.09 at end-2014.

UIC has recommended a first and final dividend of three Singapore cents per share, unchanged from the previous year. The counter ended two cents higher at S$2.96 on Friday.