CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s largest property developer, said its net profit in Q4 that ended in 31 December 2009 increased to $885.7 million, more than 11 times over the same period in 2008.
The increased profit was boosted by gains from the sale of Raffles City Hangzhou to the Raffles City ChinaFund and the divestment of two properties in Singapore.
CapitaLand’s revenue also increased 18.3 percent to $833 million quarter-on-quarter.
For the fiscal year 2009, the company achieved a net profit of $1,053.0 billion, making it the fourth consecutive year that CapitaLand recorded a net profit of more than $1 billion.
Its revenue for FY2009 also increased 7 percent at $2,957.4 million, fuelled by the higher contributions of residential development projects in China, Vietnam and Singapore.
About 67 percent of its total revenue was attributed to overseas operations. Australia and China remained the top contributors while Vietman’s contribution had also increased.
Dr. Richard Hu, CapitaLand Group’s Chairman is optimistic about the group’s result. “We ended the year with an improved netdebt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, higher cash balance of $8.7 billion and extended debt maturity of 4.4 years,” he said.
CEO and President of CapitaLand Group, Mr. Liew Mun Leong, also said the company is well positioned “ahead of the curve” for this year.
“We will significantly increase our presence in Vietnam. In Singapore, we will continue to recognize income from residential sales and have a healthy pipeline of over 2,600 residential units. CMA is due to open another 27 malls over the next few years and will continue expanding given its financial capacity.”
“Ascott will open more than 10 properties in 2010. We are reconstituting our commercial property portfolio. We expect Australand to perform better with improved growth prospects in Australia,” said Mr. Liew.