by millionairemind » Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:36 pm
Published February 7, 2009
Revenue fall, absence of forex gain hit GuocoLand
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
GUOCOLAND's net profit for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2008, fell sharply as revenue more than halved. But a key reason is that the quarter in review did not have the benefit of a huge foreign exchange gain seen in the previous corresponding period.
A Singapore-listed property unit of Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, GuocoLand yesterday posted a Q2 net profit of just $861,000, down from almost $33 million for the year-ago comparative period. The three months saw revenue dive 55 per cent year-on-year to $94.6 million mainly due to lower sales for development projects in Singapore and China.
There was also a net foreign exchange loss of $2.9 million, against a net foreign exchange gain of $21.6 million for the year-ago period. The latter arose mainly from the revaluation of US$ bank loans.
Helping to a certain extent was lower mark-to-market loss on derivative financial instruments of $4.9 million, against loss of $12.4 million for the comparative period.
Also, share of profit after tax from associates rose to $4.2 million from $1.6 million. Tax expense also fell to $3.6 million from $9.3 million primarily due to lower profits from development projects in China.
For the half year to Dec 31, 2008, GuocoLand found itself in the red with a net loss of nearly $2 million, against a $60.6 million profit for the year-ago period.
The group booked a net foreign exchange loss of $22.1 million for the first-half, arising mainly from unrealised translation loss on US$300 million bank loans as the US dollar appreciated against the Singapore dollar. In contrast, the comparative period recorded net foreign exchange gain of $34.7 million.
Share of profit after tax from associates rose from $1.2 million to $4.5 million as Tower Reit, the group's 19.97 per cent associate, booked a RM38.7 million revaluation gain on its Malaysian investment properties in December 2008.
Group revenue fell 38 per cent to $247.7 million, due mainly to lower sales for property development projects in China, offset by higher sales in Singapore.
GuocoLand said that given the slower economic growth in the countries where it operates, which slowed sales, 'it is difficult to anticipate when the turnaround will happen'.
"If a speculator is correct half of the time, he is hitting a good average. Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he has been wrong" - Bernard Baruch
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