SINGAPORE (Jan 30): Property developer Keong Hong Holdings saw its earnings double y-o-y to $4 million in 1Q19 from $1.8 million, mainly due to a $4.4 million share of gain from a joint venture company.
The bottomline growth came in spite of an 18.6% decline in quarterly revenue to $33.2 million from $40.8 million on the back of lower recognition of revenue from construction projects such as Parc Life and Raffles Hospital Extension, which had largely been completed in the previous financial year.
In line with the lower revenue, gross profit and gross profit margin fell to $2.8 million and 8.6%, respectively, as opposed to $7.5 million and 18.5% in 1Q18.
Other income grew by 45.8% to $1.6 million from $1.1 million in 1Q18 due to interest income from associates and joint ventures, foreign exchange gains, and management fees from associates.
Administrative expenses on the other hand fell by 30.5% to $3.2 million as a result of lower legal & professional fees, lower depreciation expense, the absence of foreign exchange loss and lower bank charges.
Going forward, Keong Hong says private home sales demand has been encouraging despite market challenges as about 40% of its developer sales were transaction in the last five months in 2018.
It also notes improvement in the performance of its two hotel investments in Singapore over 2018 in terms of occupancy and average room rates, which the group says is in tandem with the growth in tourist arrivals and improved hotel performance in Singapore.
Shares in Keong Hong closed 1 cent higher at 55 cents on Wednesday.
