CapitaMalls Asia profit up 14% to S$68mln

The company on track to achieve investment target with strong cash position of S$1.4bln.

CapitaMalls Asia Limited announced on Thursday that it registered profit after tax and minority interests (“PATMI”) of S$68.0 million for 3Q 2010, 14% higher than the S$59.6 million for 3Q 2009. Revenue under management was S$325.6 million for 3Q 2010, 5% higher than the S$309.0 million for 3Q 2009, according to a CapitaMalls report.

Earnings before interest and tax (“EBIT”) came in at S$77.1 million for 3Q 2010. Net Property Income was S$230.2 million1 for the first nine months (“year-to-date” or “YTD”) of 2010, 27% higher than the S$181.3 million for YTD 2009. This was supported by higher Gross Turnover and shopper traffic across the entire portfolio of malls.

The successful listing of CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust in July has enabled CapitaMalls Asia to recycle its capital in the three shopping malls in Malaysia for new investments, as well as created both a fee income business in the country and a listed vehicle for holding mature and stabilised assets. This augurs well for CapitaMalls Asia to further grow its business in Malaysia. Together with the divestment of Clarke Quay to CapitaMall Trust, CapitaMalls Asia is in a strong cash position of S$1.4 billion as at end-September 2010.

Mr Liew Mun Leong, Chairman of CapitaMalls Asia, said: “We have achieved positive performances in our retail business in all our five markets of Singapore, China, Malaysia, Japan and India. Economic growth remains strong in our two largest markets, Singapore and China. Asia ex-Japan is also expected to grow by 9.2%2 this year. This positive outlook should underpin the performance of our portfolio for the coming quarters. To tap on this growth, we will continue to grow our shopping mall portfolio through selective and strategic acquisitions.”

Mr Lim Beng Chee, CEO of CapitaMalls Asia, said: “As we deliver another quarter of good results, we are also focused on our future by continuing to build our portfolio of shopping malls. We are therefore pleased to have won the Bedok Town Centre site in Singapore with CapitaLand Residential Singapore last month, where we will build an integrated retail cum residential development at an estimated total development cost of about S$550.0 million. With our strong balance sheet, cash position and growth opportunities in Asia, we remain confident of achieving our target of investing between S$800.0 million and S$1.0 billion in new projects in the second half of this year.”