Roxy-Pacific Profit Soars On Good Show By Property, Hotels

Source : The Business Times, March 20, 2008

NEWLY listed Roxy-Pacific Holdings, a Singapore specialty property and hospitality group, has posted a strong set of maiden results.

St Patrick's Loft: One of the projects which contributed to higher revenue from property development

Group net profit surged to $19.3 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2007, from $4.84 million the previous year as revenue more than doubled to $102.7 million from $48.8 million.

Earnings per share increased to 3.79 cents from 1.02 cents. The increase in revenue was driven by strong performances by both the key segments of property development and hotel ownership and property investment.

Revenue from property development rose to $64.2 million from $18.0 million as a result of the progressive recognition of revenue from the sales of seven development projects: The Nclave, The Treeline, The Montage, St Patrick's Loft, Axis@Siglap, The Marque@Irrawaddy and The Medley.

Higher selling prices of the group's property units resulted in improved gross profit margin of 21 per cent, up from 10 per cent.

The group's gross profit margin for its hotel ownership and property investment segment also increased.

Said Teo Hong Lim, executive chairman and CEO of Roxy-Pacific: 'In 2007, the strong property market and robust tourism industry augured well for us and we remain optimistic about the Singapore property market in 2008, in particular, prospects for the mid-tier and mass market segments which is the focus of all our existing projects.'

'We intend to launch eight residential projects comprising about 290 units for FY2008 and expect these together with current ongoing projects to contribute positively to our performance for FY2008.'

The group announced a final cash dividend of one cent per share, which translates to a dividend yield of about 4 per cent.