Property Boom Benefits Hersing

Source : The Business Times, August 11, 2007

HERSING Corporation yesterday reported record profit and turnover figures for the first six months of the year as its real-estate brokerage arm marketed a whopping 13,800 properties worth $10 billion.

Mr Chua: 'We were kept very busy through the first half of 2007, marketing over $10 billion worth of properties - with $2 billion just from new project launches alone.'

Hersing, whose subsidiary ERA Realty is a major player in the real estate scene in Singapore, said that net profit for the first half ended June 30, 2007, rose six times to $9.7 million from $1.6 million a year ago.

Total revenue rose 135.2 per cent to $96.5 million, from $41 million last year.

Earnings per share rose to 4.36 cents, from 0.83 cents a year ago. The company announced an interim dividend of one cent a share.

Hersing attributed the strong showing mainly to its real-estate brokerage business.

'We were kept very busy through the first half of 2007, marketing over $10 billion worth of properties - with $2 billion just from new project launches alone,' said Harry Chua, Hersing's founder and chairman. Major projects the company marketed include One Shenton, Trillium and Seafront on Meyer.

Hersing's real-estate operations contributed $83.3 million to turnover and $9.6 million to profit before tax.

The 13,800 properties, sold for some $10 billion over the first six months of the year by ERA, earned Hersing over $80 million in commissions - the highest-ever in ERA's 25-year history, said Jack Chua, Hersing's executive director.

The company's financial services and self-storage businesses also did well, he said.

Hersing's Western Union financial services franchise profit before tax rose 37.1 per cent to $1.3 million year-on-year, while its StorHub self-storage business' profit before tax rose 32.6 per cent to $0.8 million.

Going forward, as developers are expected to slow the pace of new launches in the second half of 2007, Hersing expects revenue and profit performance from its real-estate brokerage business to be 'satisfactory but moderated in comparison to the first half of the year', it said.

The financial services and self-storage operations are, however, expected to maintain steady performance.

Hersing's shares closed unchanged at 51 cents yesterday. The stock has climbed 205.9 per cent since the start of the year.