http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...s-208-20140208

Published February 08, 2014

Bukit Sembawang Q3 profit drops 20.8%

Firm warns of challenging conditions that will hurt sales

By Jamie Lee [email protected]


PROPERTY firm Bukit Sembawang Estates has warned that challenging conditions in the residential market are expected to "adversely affect" sales in the year ahead.

Its comments came yesterday in its financial statements in which it reported a 20.8 per cent fall in net profit for the fiscal third quarter on lower sales.

Net profit for the three months ended Dec 31, 2013, stood at $18.5 million, down from $23.3 million in the same period a year ago.

Earnings per share stood at 7.14 cents for the quarter, down from 9.02 cents a year ago. Revenue fell 14 per cent to $69.3 million. This translated into a lower gross profit, due mainly to lower profit recognition of development projects, the property firm said.

"The successive cooling measures implemented by the Singapore government, in particular the introduction of Total Debt Servicing Ratio for housing loans by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, have dampened the demand for residential properties," it said.

For the nine months, revenue rose 3.3 per cent to $319 million. The overall increase in gross profit - up 3.8 per cent to $119 million - came from higher profit recognition in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.

Finance income for the nine-month period dropped from $2.14 million to $143,000, due to the absence of mark-to-market gain on interest rate swaps. Income tax expense for the nine months also fell 6.7 per cent to $20.6 million, due mainly to an adjustment in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 for an underprovision of current tax in fiscal 2012.

Taken together, net profit edged higher by 4.6 per cent to $93 million.

Shares of the property firm closed yesterday at $5.42, down three cents or 0.55 per cent.