SINGAPORE (Feb 28): UOL Group has reported earnings of $478.8 million for FY2019 ended December, some 14% higher than earnings of $418.3 million a year ago. Earnings were boosted by fair value and other gains of $165.1 million in FY2019 compared to $85.3 million in FY2018.
"The biggest chunk of fair value gains came from our two London properties for which we were able to achieve positive rental reversion," says Wellington Foo, CFO of UOL. In addition, there was a 20 basis point capitalisation rate compression for the office tower at United Square and Odeon Tower, and a 5bps compression in the cap rate for Novena Square and One Pickering, Foo adds.
Revenue fell 5% to $2.3 billion from $2.4 billion last year.
The group says that the decrease was due to lower progressive recognition of revenue from three development projects – Principal Garden, The Clement Canopy and Botanique at Bartley. These projects obtained their temporary occupation permit (TOP) in December 2018, March 2019 and April 2019 respectively.
The decline in revenue was, however, partially offset by higher revenue recognition from development projects, namely Amber45, The Tre Ver, Avenue South Residence as well as Park Eleven in Shanghai, as well as higher sales from the technology business of United Industrial Corporation Limited (UIC).
Cost of sales for the year fell 9% to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion last year.
Correspondingly, gross profit increased by a marginal 1% to $1.05 billion from $1.03 billion in FY2018.
UOL’s gross profit margin for FY2019 increased to 46% from 43% last year due primarily to lower revenue from property development which has a higher cost ratio, as well as the absence of accelerated depreciation for Pan Pacific Orchard recognised in FY2018.
The group’s expenses rose 11% to $542.8 million from $490.0 million in the previous year. Finance expenses and marketing and distribution expenses increased by 25% and 1% respectively, while administrative expenses fell 3%.
UOL’s gearing ratio also increased to 0.30 from 0.28 last year, due to borrowings for the acquisition of shares in Marina Centre Holdings Private Limited and Aquamarina Hotel Private Limited, the construction of One Bishopsgate Plaza and for the acquisition of the Clementi Avenue 1 site.
As at end-December, cash and cash equivalents stood at $714.4 million.
Earnings per share for the year came in at 56.77 cents.
The board has proposed a first and final dividend of 17.5 cents per ordinary share, unchanged from the previous year, and representing a payout ratio of 47%.
Looking ahead, UOL expects the global economic outlook to remain uncertain as trade and geopolitical tensions as well as the outcome of a Brexit deal remains sources of risk, alongside the risk posed by the Covid-19 situation.
“We believe we delivered a set of creditable results for 2019. However, we see challenges ahead for this year due to the Covid-19 outbreak and we are looking into mitigation strategies to sustain our business,” says UOL Group CEO Liam Wee Sin.
“For now, it is our hope that the COVID-19 outbreak can be contained as soon as possible so that businesses can return to normalcy,” he adds.
"Our hotel and retail operations are directly impacted but over the last weekend we saw an encouraging rebound in footfall in our malls. We see residential launches with pretty healthy take ups. At UOL we have diversified income stream and we are not overly impacted by one sector and even with Covid-19 and with the uncertainty some tenants may want to renew their leases. On the residential front, we still have decent margins," Liam concludes.
Shares in UOL Group closed 38 cents lower, or down 4.9%, at $7.37 on Friday prior to the results announcement.
