SINGAPORE (Feb 27): OUE, the real estate owner, developer and operator, rounded off FY18 ended Dec with earnings of $10 million, down 89.4% from a restated $94.6 million from a year ago.
This was mainly due to lower net fair value gains recognised on investment properties and impairment of goodwill relating to the group’s investment in OUE Lippo Healthcare, partially mitigated by higher EBIT in FY18.
FY18 revenue came in at $642.9 million, 14.7% lower compared to FY17 largely due to lower contributions from the Development Property and Healthcare divisions, which were partially mitigated by higher contributions from the Investment Properties and Hospitality divisions.
Revenue from the Development Property division decreased 68.5% to $65.9 million due to lower sales completed for units sold under the deferred payment schemes in FY18.
Revenue from the Healthcare division, which pertains to revenue contribution from OUE Lippo Healthcare, decreased 14.8% to $28.8 million mainly due to lower contribution from its operations in China.
Revenue from the Investment Properties division increased 1.3% to $274.4 million in FY18, largely attributable to a full year’s rental income from Downtown Gallery, which commenced operations in May 2017.
The Hospitality division recorded 7.5% higher revenue at $236.6 million due to higher contribution from Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore, the serviced residences at OUE Downtown, which opened in June 2017.
Higher dividend income at $13 million was mainly due to dividend received from the group’s interests in Gemdale Properties and Investment Corporation.
Consequently, the group’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 9.9% to $182.5 million.
Dr Stephen Riady, OUE’s Executive Chairman, says, “We are satisfied with the group’s performance in FY2018 and are pleased to share with our shareholders the value unlocked on office components of OUE Downtown via a special dividend. Meanwhile, our growing recurring income from a well-diversified portfolio continues to provide us greater resilience and flexibility as we work towards delivering sustainable shareholder return in the long term.”
Dividend
For FY18, the directors has proposed a final cash dividend of 1 cent per share and a special cash dividend of 11 cents per share. Together with the interim dividend of 1 cent per share declared in August 2018, the total cash dividend for FY18 amounts to 13 cents per share.
As at 12.36pm, shares in OUE are up 10 cents at $1.68.
