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Thanks to a turnaround in its joint ventures, MCL Land yesterday reported a first-quarter net profit of US$5 million, up from just US$1 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share rose to 1.36 US cents from 0.27 US cents.

Revenue for the three months to March 31 was US$365,000 - compared with US$393,000 for the year-ago period.

However, the property firm was helped by contributions from joint ventures which stood at US$4.94 million, against a loss of US$355,000 a year earlier.

The firm said its Q1 revenue arose primarily from rental income from its investment properties.

Also, the underlying profit for the period was US$5 million, compared with US$0.2 million in the first three months of 2007. ‘This improvement was due mainly to the completion in March of The Grange, the group’s joint-venture project in Singapore, and the sales of the remaining 12 shops at the Kuala Lumpur Suburban Centre in Malaysia.’

MCL added that construction work on its development projects is progressing well. ‘The Grange obtained its Temporary Occupation Permit in March 2008, and The Esta and Mera Springs are expected to complete in the second half of the year.’

The group secured a 99-year leasehold land parcel in Yishun Avenue 1 in March. Its purchase of another site - Casa Nassau at Upper East Coast Road - is expected to be completed in July.

Looking ahead, MCL said financial market uncertainties and the global economic slowdown could affect the residential property sector here in the short term.

‘However, favourable economic fundamentals should mean that the longer term prospects remain positive. The expected completion of Mera Springs and The Esta in Singapore should benefit MCL Land’s overall performance in 2008.’

Its shares rose 5 cents to close at $1.98 yesterday.

Source : Business Times - 30 Apr 2008

Singapore’s top two developers are expected to report strong core earnings from apartment sales thanks to a three-year property boom, but slower sales since late last year will hit full-year results in 2008.

Private home prices in the city-state jumped 31 per cent in 2007 for the largest increase in eight years, but growth slowed for a second consecutive quarter in January-March as volumes slumped to the lowest since the Sars epidemic in 2003.

Government moves to cool the market, by ending a scheme that allowed delayed payments, coupled with the impact of a global economic slowdown, are expected to hit top developers CapitaLand and City Developments.

This week, Singapore’s third-biggest developer Keppel Land by market value, reported a 3.5 per cent fall in quarterly net profit as new property launches were hurt by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.

‘Volumes have dwindled down to a trickle as the halt of the deferred payment scheme coincided with the sub-prime issue,’ said Kim Eng property analyst Wilson Liew, who has cut annual forecasts for Singapore developers by 15-18 percent to reflect lower sales.

For the first quarter, CapitaLand, South-east Asia’s largest developer by market value, is expected to report a 59 per cent drop in net profit in the absence of divestment and revaluation gains, analysts said.

Divestment gains, coupled with the sale of an office building and the sale of units in its Ascott Residence Trust, had lifted results five-fold in the first quarter of 2007.

‘CapitaLand will probably continue to book some revaluation gains this year, but most of the increments would already have been booked in 2007,’ Mr Liew said.

CapitaLand’s aggressive moves to grow in overseas markets such as China and India are expected to help it weather a slowdown in Singapore’s property sector. Overseas operations contributed 40 per cent to CapitaLand’s profits in 2007.

City Developments, Singapore’s second-biggest developer, is expected to report a 63 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit, boosted by strong sales of its luxury apartments in the last two years.

‘CityDev is best poised to ride out the current downturn in the property sector and will be a key mover upon the first signs of a market recovery,’ said DBS Vickers analyst Lock Mun Yee, adding that the developer had a large landbank and deep pockets to delay launches until conditions improved. — Reuters

Source : Business Times - 26 Apr 2008

CapitaLand said yesterday that its associate Loma IT Park Developers has bought a 121,450 sq m site at the Trans Thana Creek industrial area in Navi Mumbai, India, for $79 million. The seller is Standard Industries, a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

CapitaLand and its partner plan to build an information technology park and a Grade A office complex on the site, which is in the heart of the Mumbai-Pune ‘Knowledge Corridor’. The project will be CapitaLand’s first such development in India.

Loma is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arc-CapitaLand India - a joint venture set up by CapitaLand and Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank to develop the site. The proposed development will comprise 2.5 million sq ft (about 232,342 sq m) of built-up space, roughly half of which will be set aside for IT companies.

Construction is expected to begin by the first quarter of 2009. Completion will be in phases over the next five years. CapitaLand president and chief executive Liew Mun Leong said: ‘India has been identified as an important new market in Asia for the CapitaLand group. Its immense potential as a high growth market cannot be ignored.’

Arc-CapitaLand India has appointed London-based Foreign Office Architects to design the project.

The development is expected to set quality benchmarks to meet the demands of multinational companies and high-tech businesses. It will also be one of the first major developments in Mumbai to feature environmentally sustainable commercial space.

Source : Business Times - 25 Apr 2008

Far East Organization (FEO), headed by Singapore’s richest man, Ng Teng Fong, looks set to undergo a corporate rebranding exercise as it gears up for challenging times ahead.

Mr Ng’s son, Philip, who is also the company’s CEO, said that it will be ‘embarking on a formal and articulated programme to circumscribe a more visible corporate brand as well as define new sub-brands for our residential property sales and hospitality operations’.

The CEO also said: ‘In this next phase of our organisational development, we will continue to be true to the vision of our founder and this means we must all participate in making Far East Organization an entrepreneurial organisation.’

Mr Ng was addressing his staff through the company newsletter, Landmark.

In it, he also outlined the challenges it faced in the preceding year as well as those it faces in the years ahead.

Saying that 2007 had been ‘a rather chequered year’, he added: ‘Our performance across our spectrum of operations was somewhat uneven although business conditions for the better part of the year were quite rosy.’

While Mr Ng noted that ‘business risks have heightened’, and that ‘there are now cycles within a cycle as globalisation impacts on us’, he said: ‘We see opportunities for business growth as Singapore transforms into a vibrant, global city that has an international marketplace for real estate and real estate products.’

Mr Ng revealed that its property sales operations have already been augmented with ‘a network of regional offices and multi-country marketing channels’.

A substantial portion of FEO customers now come from overseas, including the Middle East, Europe, Russia, India and China, revealed Mr Ng. ‘They are much more demanding especially of international products for which they are prepared to pay international prices,’ he added.

‘We need to be much more attuned to the life and living of other international cities and markets so that we understand the lifestyles and preferences of our customers,’ he added.

To this end, FEO has already made considerable headway in fashioning new products for the global set, including The Scotts Tower, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Rem Koolhaas’s architectural firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Also in the works is the 108-room hotel, Quincy, located off Orchard Road and styled after the trendy hotel chain, W Hotel.

To date, FEO has a development landbank of 11 million sq ft in Singapore. In 2007, it invested $1.15 billion to acquire development sites that will yield some 2.7 million sq ft of buildable area.

Source : Business Times - 25 Apr 2008

CapitaLand has acquired a prime 30-acre site to build its first IT park and a grade-A office complex in India.

The deal was done through its 49 percent-owned associate, LOMA IT Park Developers.

The site was purchased at a price of S$79 million from Standard Industries, a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

It is located in the Trans Thana Creek industrial area in Thana district, Navi Mumbai.

CapitaLand said the development will comprise about 2.5 million square feet of built-up space, of which about half will be set aside for IT companies.

The development will be built over the next five years. Construction work is expected to start by the first quarter of 2009. - CNA/ac

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 24 Apr 2008