http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/comp...r-s188-million

Amara buying Newton Road bungalow for S$18.8 million

By Kalpana Rashiwala

[email protected]@KalpanaBT

Mar 29, 2016


HOTEL and property group Amara Holdings is understood to have picked up a freehold bungalow at 31 Newton Road for S$18.8 million or S$1,256 per square foot on land area of 14,966 sq ft.

The group owns an abutting property, 29 Newton Road, which also has a freehold bungalow on site; its land area is 15,332 sq ft.

According to Amara's 2014 annual report, 29 Newton Road is earmarked for a proposed residential development with a gross floor area of 21,463 sq ft. This reflects a 1.4 plot ratio (ratio of gross floor area to land area), typically associated with a low-rise apartment project

With Amara understood to be in the process of buying the neighbouring 31 Newton Road, Amara could amalgamate the two sites for a larger plot of 30,298 sq ft.

Assuming a 1.4 plot ratio, the combined site could be redeveloped into an apartment project of 42,417 sq ft - large enough for a project of about 55 units assuming an average unit size of about 753 sq ft.

When contacted by The Business Times, Amara declined to comment.

The counter closed 1.5 Singapore cents higher at 40.5 cents on the Singapore Exchange on Monday.

The group posted a 59 per cent drop in net profit to S$14.33 million for the year ended Dec 31, 2015. This was on the back of a drop in fair-value gains from its investment properties and expenses from a new hotel.

During the year, Amara recorded a decrease in the fair-value gain in investment properties of S$13.4 million as well as higher operating expenses due to a newly opened hotel in Bangkok.

Revenue, however, rose 9 per cent year on year to S$82.43 million, thanks to higher revenue from the group's hotel investment and management segment, higher income from additional units of development property sold and rental income from its property investment and development segment.

Earnings per share fell to 2.49 Singapore cents for FY2015 from 6.12 cents for the previous year.