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Thread: MCL cheers immigration drive

  1. #1
    mr funny is offline Any complaints please PM me
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    Default MCL cheers immigration drive

    Published May 18, 2007

    MCL cheers immigration drive


    SINGAPORE'S drive to boost its population through immigration will boost the earnings of residential property developer MCL Land for years to come, the firm's finance chief said yesterday.

    The firm, 77 per cent owned by Hongkong Land, expects demand for its mass- to mid-market condominiums will be fuelled by the government's plan to woo more skilled foreign workers and boost the country's population to 6.5 million from 4.5 million.

    'The long-term prospect for Singapore's property market is good. You need to house that additional two million,' Steve Chu, MCL Land's chief financial officer, said.

    Singapore generated over 90 per cent of MCL Land's earnings last year with the remainder coming from Malaysia.

    Though private home prices in Singapore are at their highest levels in seven years, many of MCL Land's rival developers such as CapitaLand and Keppel Land are diversifying out of the country by building apartments, malls and offices in markets such as China and India.

    But Mr Chu said the risk-returns of venturing beyond MCL Land's main markets of Singapore and Malaysia would not be attractive for a small firm that had a staff of about 30.

    'The current boom in Singapore has two to three more years to go before it eases off,' Mr Chu said, adding that private home prices could rise a further 15-20 per cent this year.

    Mr Chu said MCL Land plans to spend up to $600 million this year to grow its current landbank of about 1.6 million square feet of gross floor area.

    'We are actively looking for sites, particularly along the fringes of the core central area,' he said. - Reuters

  2. #2
    malayan credit Guest

    Default Re: MCL cheers immigration drive

    Clarification On Article in The Business Times dated Friday, May 18 2007

    MCL Land Limited refers to an article published in The Business Times entitled "MCL cheers immigration drive" today which states that "MCL Land plans to spend up to $600 million this year to grow its current landbank."

    MCL Land wishes to clarify that the "$600 million" landbank plans refers to the total development costs of current and future projects that the group intends to acquire and develop in the course of the next few years and not solely in the current year.

    The company will make the appropriate announcements as and when it acquires property sites.

  3. #3
    Buyer Guest

    Default Re: MCL cheers immigration drive

    Wah!
    Cheong ah!

  4. #4
    Huat Lah Guest

    Default Re: MCL cheers immigration drive

    Cheong ! Cheong ! Cheong ! Huat Lah ! Huat Lah ! !!!!!!!!!!!

  5. #5
    AsiaOne Guest

    Default More Than 50,000 Become Singapore PRs In Last 2 Years

    About 8,500 take up Singapore Citizenship annually
    AsiaOne
    21 May 2007

    More foreigners have been granted permanent residency in Singapore annually, with the number reaching over 50,000 in the last two years.

    Deputy Prime Minister Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament today that over the last 10 years, from 1997 to 2006, an average of about 36,000 persons were granted Permanent Residence (PR) in Singapore annually.

    Most of them - about 48% - came from South-East, South and East Asia and some were from diverse places such as the Americas, Oceania and Europe.

    Responding to a question from Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong, Mr Wong said that the total PR granted has generally been on an upward trend.

    "Since 2001, the number of PR granted was consistently more than 30,000. For the years 2005 and 2006, the number of PR granted was above 50,000," said Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs Minister.
    o
    And in the last 10 years, an average of 8,500 Singapore PRs became Singapore citizens annually, he added.

    In an interview with The Straits Times in March to underscore Singapore’s need for immigration for its economy to thrive, Mr Wong said that Singapore needs an additional 87,300 people in the workforce for its economy to grow at 6% this year.

    But the workforce is projected to grow by only 52,700 a year, when citizens and permanent residents (PRs) alone are taken into account. This means that Singapore is still short of 34,600 people.

    From 2001 to 2005, Singapore attracted about 8,000 new citizens per year. Last year, the number hit 13,200. Looking forward, “a good number” will be to get 10,000 to 12,000 new citizens a year, said Mr Wong, who chairs the National Population Committee.

    Singapore is preparing to host 6.5 million people comfortably, up from the 5.5 million estimate given six years ago. With low birth rates, foreigners are expected to be the main source of growth.

  6. #6
    mr funny is offline Any complaints please PM me
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    Default Re: MCL cheers immigration drive

    May 17, 2007, 4.42 pm (Singapore time)

    MCL to spend $395 million on new sites


    SINGAPORE - Singapore home builder MCL Land will spend up to $600 million (US$395 million) this year to buy new sites as it continues to focus on the city-state for growth, the firm's finance chief said on Thursday.

    'The long-term prospect for Singapore's property market is good as the government plans to grow the population from 4.5 million to 6.5 million. You need to house that additional two million,' Steve Chu, MCL Land's chief financial officer, told Reuters in an interview.

    He said MCL Land's 2007 net profit would easily exceed the US$30.5 million net profit it earned last year.

    'It will definitely be a much better performance than 2006,' he said, adding that Singapore would still generate over 90 per cent of its earnings.

    Its landbank acquisitions will be funded by cash from its home sales as well as bank financing, Mr Chu said.

    'We are comfortable at keeping our current debt gearing of 60 per cent to equity,' he added.

    MCL Land, which has a market capitalisation of US$654 million and is the 22nd-largest property firm among the 40 in Singapore's property index , is 77-per cent owned by Hongkong Land. -- REUTERS

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