Southeast Asia’s largest real estate company, CapitaLand, posted a net profit of S$399.0 million in the second quarter of 2011, up 17 percent from S$339.7 million over the same period last year.
Revenue for the quarter also increased 25 percent to S$740.4 million, while earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) slipped to S$719.6 million in Q2, compared with S$723.0 million a year ago.
Dr Richard Hu, Chairman of CapitaLand Group, said that despite the patchy global economic growth and concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and the US budget deficit, Asia continues to present growth prospects.
“We expect to expand our businesses and continue to actively pursue investment opportunities in our core and secondary markets. With about S$5 billion of new investments primarily in Singapore, China, Australia and Vietnam in the first half of this year, we have strengthened our foundation for growth in the coming years.”
Meanwhile, the company’s net profit in the first six months of 2011 surged 35 percent year-on-year to S$500.5 million. Excluding revaluations and impairments, CapitaLand’s profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) rose 69 percent to S$271.4 million, driven mainly by higher development profits in Singapore and China, as well as the sale of a residential site in Shanghai, China.
H1 revenue grew 31 percent to S$1,352.0 million, attributed to developments like Urban Resort Condominium, The Wharf Residence and The Interlace in Singapore, as well as Riverside Ville, Beau Residences and Riviera in China.
However, the group noted that rental revenue from shopping malls and serviced residences was “lower due to the absence of contribution from the shopping malls and serviced residences that were divested to CapitaLand-sponsored real estate investment trusts in 2010.”
In Singapore, the redevelopment of Market Street Car Park is underway and the group “will build in its place an ultra-modern Grade A office tower in the heart of Singapore’s central business district,” said Liew Mun Leong, President and Chief Executive of CapitaLand Group.
“We will build a S$1.5 billion integrated retail-office landmark in Jurong Gateway, Singapore’s largest regional centre. For our residential business, we secured two well-located sites this year and have a healthy pipeline of approximately 2,700 units to be launched over the next three years,” he said.
For China, Liew said the company remains positive and “confident of its real estate market and believes in the long-term resilience of the economy as it is supported by rapid urbanisation, strong domestic consumption and increasing affluence.”
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