SINGAPORE - Property developer CapitaLand Limited on Wednesday (Nov 14) posted a 13.6 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter on the back of higher operating profit and gains from asset recycling.
Net profit rose to $362.2 million from $318.8 million a year ago as operating profit improved 13.3 per cent to $233.7 million from $206.3 million on contributions from newly acquired and opened investment properties in Singapore, China and Germany.
The year-ago results were restated to take into account retrospective adjustments related to new accounting standards.
Revenue declined 16.9 per cent to $1.26 billion from $1.52 billion in Q3 2017, due to lower contributions from development projects in Singapore and China. This was partly offset by higher rental revenue from the newly acquired and opened properties as well as the consolidation of revenue from CapitaLand Mall Trust, CapitaLand Retail China Trust and Raffles City Singapore Trust with effect from August 2017.
Earnings per share was 8.7 cents for Q3 2018, compared with restated earnings per share of 7.5 cents for Q3 2017.
For the year-to-date period, net profit shrank 0.4 per cent to $1.29 billion, while revenue improved 16.8 per cent to about $4 billion, excluding gains from the sale of 45 units of The Nassim.
No dividend was declared for the period under review.
Lee Chee Koon, president and group CEO of CapitaLand Group, said: "CapitaLand's disciplined capital recycling continues to gain momentum. We have divested $4 billion worth of assets and deployed the capital into $6.1 billion worth of new investments to date this year. These include acquisitions to secure a good development pipeline as well as higher yielding assets that are immediately income producing."
Mr Lee added that the group has expanded into complementary asset segments, like the US multifamily asset class, after establishing dominant footholds in its key asset classes and geographies. This is in line with CapitaLand's strategy of maintaining a balance between emerging and developed markets as well as an optimal mix of trading and investment properties.
The developer's acquisitions in Q3 2018 include a mixed-use site at Sengkang Central, a site to build the first co-living property in one-north, two prime residential sites in Guangzhou, China, and a prime site in District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
CapitaLand shares closed at $3.08 on Tuesday (Nov 13), down three cents.
