Wheelock's Q1 profit surges 42% to $26.5m

Property
Published August 15, 2006


COMPANY RESULTS
Wheelock's Q1 profit surges 42% to $26.5m



WHEELOCK Properties has posted a 42.3 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit to $26.5 million. Revenue for the three months ended June 30 jumped 88.4 per cent to $156.2 million.


The increases were due mainly to profit recognition for units sold in The Sea View and The Cosmopolitan condos, as well as better performance from subsidiaries in the United Kingdom. No profit was recognised from The Sea View and The Cosmopolitan in the same period last year.

Wheelock will launch the 118-unit Ardmore II condo in October this year, followed by 338 apartments on the Scotts Shopping Centre/The Ascott Singapore site next year.

Piling work has begun for the Orchard View condo at Angullia Park. Wheelock Place is currently 92 per cent leased at satisfactory rental rates.

The group said recently that it had signed a deal to sell its fully owned subsidiary, Hamptons Group Ltd, in the UK for 82 million (S$245 million).

The sale is expected to be completed before Dec 31 this year and the gain on disposal is expected to be about $128 million, as previously announced.

Wheelock's directors are not recommending any interim dividend for the first quarter.