CapitaLand’s Australian unit, Australand, said on Tuesday that it returned to the black for the first half this year.
Australand’s net profit for the six months ended in June came in at 72.2 million Aussie dollars.
That’s a reversal of the 268.8 million Aussie dollar loss it incurred over the same period last year.
Much of the improvement was due to investment property revaluation gains of 11.7 million Australian dollars this year, as opposed to last year’s A$235.3 million dollar loss.
Also, Australand did not suffer any impairments from development and joint venture assets over the first half this year.
In the year-ago period, it was hit by a charge of 93.45 million Aussie dollars.
But Australand said its revenue and other income were down by 10 per cent to 281.5 million Australian dollars
Giving its outlook, the firm said valuations for quality assets have stabilised and it expects investment property earnings to grow steadily.
It also remains optimistic that development activity in its commercial and industrial division will strengthen during the second half.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 27 Jul 2010