SINGAPORE (Aug 13): Centurion Corporation reported 2Q19 earnings improved 4% to $10.2 million, compared to $9.8 million in 2Q18.
However, for the half year ended June, 1H19 earnings was 4% lower at $18.1 million from $18.9 million in 1H19.
During the quarter, revenue increased by 8% to $32.9 million from $30.4 million a year ago, mainly due to revenue contribution from the group’s newly added properties such as dwell East End Adelaide in Australia and dwell Princess Street in the UK. Higher occupancy rates achieved on the group’s Singapore workers accommodation also contributed to the better revenue performance.
With cost of sales decreasing by 1% y-o-y to $8.3 million, 2Q19 gross profit came in at $24.7 million from $22.0 million last year.
Overall expenses for the period was higher, mainly due to a 16% increase in administrative expenses to $5.9 million and a 23% y-o-y increase in finance expenses to $7.1 million.
Share of profit of associated companies and joint venture fell by 15% to $1.4 million from $1.7 million in the previous year, largely due to lower contribution from the Centurion US Student Housing Fund.
As at end-June, cash and cash equivalents stood at $50.3 million.
Centurion’s board has declared an interim dividend of 1.0 cent per share, unchanged from the same period last year, which will be payable on Sept 12.
Kong Chee Min, CEO of Centurion, says, “Despite uncertainties such as the US-China trade war and Brexit, our continued revenue and gross profit growth as well as stable year-on-year profit reflect the robust fundamentals of our business. Our new assets in Australia, Malaysia and South Korea have begun accreting revenue during the quarter and we expect that occupancy will be ramped up to a healthy level over the 9 to 12 months. We will also continue to focus on optimising our current assets to deliver stable growth for our investors.”
Shares in Centurion closed flat at 41 cents on Tuesday.
