Wing Tai has posted a 142 per cent jump in net earnings for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 to $53.9 million, from $22.3 million a year earlier.
The property and retail group’s Q2 revenue rose 13 per cent year on year to $197.8 million.
For the first half, Wing Tai achieved a 23 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit to $84.1 million, despite a 27 per cent drop in revenue to $328.8 million. The first-half bottom line was buoyed by a 145 per cent jump in share of profits of associated and joint venture companies to $32.5 million.
This was due mainly to higher contributions from The Floridian condominium development in Singapore and from the contribution of the group’s Hong Kong unit Wing Tai Properties Limited.
The main source of revenue from property development during the half year was sales at Helios Residences on the former Phoenix Mansion site at Cairnhill Circle and Belle Vue Residences at Oxley Walk.
The group’s cash and cash equivalents rose slightly from $594.1 million as at June 30, 2010 to $600.3 million as at Dec 31, 2010. Over the same period, net gearing ratio was pared from 0.44 to 0.31.
No interim dividend has been declared.
Earnings per share for the first half ended Dec 31, 2010 came to 10.8 cents, up from 8.83 cents in the same year-ago period. Net asset value per share stood at $2.18 as at Dec 31, 2010, unchanged from June 30, 2010.
In October, Wing Tai beat eight other bidders at a state tender to clinch a 99-year leasehold private housing site at Petir Road, next to the sold-out Tree House condo project at $177.4 million. This worked out to $345 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).