Property developer UOL Group said that its profit for the full year of 2009 almost tripled to $424.1 million.
The group’s good performance came on the back of a 12 percent increase in revenue to $1 billion.
According to UOL, the increase was due primarily to higher income from property investments and property developments. Such earnings helped to partially offset its higher financial expenses.
It also noted that the general outlook for the global economy has improved, while there are still concerns over the pace of economic recovery in the US and other developed countries.
As such, UOL expects demand in the residential property market to remain resilient.
However, UOL stressed that further pressure will be put on rental rates with the vast supply of new office space.
For the hotel sector, it expects higher occupancies, though room rates are expected to pick up at a slower pace.
Meanwhile, UOL said it does not expect the recent measures of the government to cool the residential property sector to have an immediate impact on its revenues, if no other stringent measures are introduced.
“Over the longer term, if you say the other restrictions or price controls … yes it may restrict, but I do not see that it will affect (the company) in the short and medium term,” said Gwee Lian Kheng, group chief executive of UOL.
In 2009, the mainboard-listed real estate company sold over 1,000 residential properties in Singapore, up by 15 percent from 2008.