Wing Tai Q3 net profit drops 49% to $27.7m

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Published May 13, 2008

Wing Tai Q3 net profit drops 49% to $27.7m

Nine-month net profit slips 4% to $133.1m

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


PROPERTY group Wing Tai Holdings yesterday posted a 49 per cent year-on-year drop in third-quarter net earnings to $27.7 million on a 63 per cent slide in revenue to $109.99 million. For the nine months ended March 31, 2008, net profit fell 4 per cent to $133.1 million, while revenue roughly halved to $320.8 million from $732.6 million from the year before.

The group attributed the smaller bottom line for the nine months to lower revenue and operating profit from property development. Revenue from development properties for the latest nine months was recognised mainly from units sold at The Riverine by The Park in Singapore, The Meritz and Sering Ukay in Malaysia and The Lakeside in China. The group's share of profit of associated and joint venture companies increased 63 per cent to $81.5 million for the nine months. 'This was due to higher contributions from VisionCrest and Casa Merah projects in Singapore,' Wing Tai's results statement said.

Also included in the latest Q3 and nine-month income statements was a $26.6 million gain from the disposal of available-for-sale financial assets.

Wing Tai said its net gearing ratio increased from 0.4 times at June 30, 2007 to 0.5 times at March 31, 2008. Cash and cash equivalents declined from $399.1 million at March 31, 2007 to $309.8 million at March 31, 2008.

Earnings per share fell from 7.53 cents for Q3 ended March 2007 to 3.27 cents for Q3 ended March 2008. Net asset value per share slipped from $2.07 at June 30, 2007 to $1.90 at March 31, 2008. The company's shares closed a cent lower at $2.06 yesterday.

Wing Tai said that 'new residential projects for sale will be launched at the opportune time'.

Wing Tai is also involved in the fashion retail business. And last Friday, subsidiary DNP Holdings Bhd's unit DNP Fashion Sdn Bhd launched South-east Asia's first Canali boutique at Kuala Lumpur's Pavilion shopping centre. The internationally known luxury menswear range is made in Italy.