Singapore
August 14, 2006, 6.22 pm (Singapore time)
CityDev Q2 net profit up 95%
SINGAPORE - City Developments Ltd (CityDev), Southeast Asia's second-largest developer, posted a 95 per cent rise in quarterly net profit on stronger Singapore home sales and global hotel earnings.
The firm, controlled by Singapore tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, earned $44.9 million (US$28.4 million) in the April-June quarter, up from a restated $23 million a year earlier. CityDev's luxury residential projects in Singapore have seen strong sales, with interest spurred by the government's move last year to ease rules on foreign property ownership and financing.
Earlier this month, the group's 52.6 per cent-owned global hotel chain Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Plc reported a 36 per cent increase in first-half underlying profit.
Last month, CityDev spun off some of its hotel assets into property and business trust, CDL Hospital Trusts. -- REUTERS