SINGAPORE (Feb 21): City Developments recorded earnings of $77.9 million for 4Q18, down 54.7% from $171.9 million a year ago on lower revenue and higher expenses.
Revenue for the quarter fell 40.6% to $788.3 million from restated 4Q17 revenue of $1.3 billion, arising mainly from variances in project and unit revenue recorded.
The main contributors of revenue for the latest quarter was New Futura, The Tapestry and Park Court Aoyama The Tower – whereas in 4Q17, it was Gramercy Park and The Brownstone executive condominium (EC), which obtained TOP in that quarter and recorded entire revenue from sold units then.
Administrative expenses grew 3.6% to $140.2 million from $135.3 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, other operating expenses rose 7.3% to $206.7 million from $192.6 million previously due to impairment losses on property, plant and equipment and investment properties of $94.1 million. In Q417, the impairment loss was $52.2 million.
CDL’s latest 4Q results brings the group’s earnings for the full year to $557.3 million, up 6.7% from $522.2 million in FY17.
With full-year revenue of $4.2 billion, this marks the first time the group has crossed the $4 billion threshold.
On top of a final dividend of 8 cents per share, CDL is also recommending a special final dividend of 6 cents per share, bringing total dividends for FY18 to 20 cents per share as opposed to 18 cents in FY17.
“We are confident that when the global issues are stabilised, Singapore is well-poised to recover given its strong fundamentals. The residential property market sentiments should thereby improve with pent-up demand. Singapore remains attractive for investments and talents given its political stability, high quality of living and established infrastructure,” says Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of CDL.
“While we continue to strengthen our foothold in Singapore, we will also look abroad to diversify for growth and manage our risk,” he adds.
Shares in CDL closed 8 cents higher at $9.53 on Wednesday.
