SINGAPORE (May 15): The Straits Trading Company saw its earnings fall 53.6% to $9.7 million for the 1Q ended March, from $20.9 million a year ago.
1Q18 revenue was 7.2% lower at $123.9 million, from $133.5 million a year ago.
This was mainly due to an 8.1% drop in tin mining and smelting revenue to $119.4 million during the quarter as a result of lower sales volume of refined tin.
Property revenue was 29.4% higher at $4.5 million in 1Q18.
Share of results of associates and joint ventures tumbled 70.5% to $5.9 million in 1Q18, from $19.8 million a year ago. The higher share of results for 1Q17 was largely due to marking investment properties acquired by an associate to their valuations.
As at end March, cash and cash equivalents stood at $256.6 million.
“We intend to further grow our Japan residential rental properties, which are now providing a source of immediate and recurring income, to aggregate into a larger portfolio to obtain the highest risk-adjusted returns,” says Chew Gek Khim, executive chairman of Straits Trading.
“We will also continue to redeploy capital into attractive investments in other regional markets to grow our already sizable real estate asset base. Some of the markets we like are China and Australia, the latter which is showing signs of recovery in the office market,” she adds.
Shares of Straits Trading closed flat at $2.18 on Tuesday.
