Keppel Land profit tumbles 55%

But you're not seeing the full picture yet.

DBS said results are largely within expectations. Keppel Land reported a 55% y-o-y drop in 4Q12 net profit to S$527.3m on 26% higher turnover

to S$472m. For the full year, bottomline came in at S$838.4m despite flat turnover.

Stripping out fair value and divestment gains,net profit for the year would have been S$451.4m, 61% higher than a year ago, said DBS. " The better operating performance was due to higher associate contributions from the Reflections at Keppel Bay project as well as better dividends from Keppel Reit. The group has proposed a DPS of 12cts, translating to a yield of c3%.

Residential development activities remained the main contributor with the income from Reflections at Keppel Bay, Marina Bay Suites, Springdale in Shanghai and Seasons Park in Tianjin Eco City. During the year, the company also sold 430 and 1650 homes in Singapore and China. 

Meanwhile, rental commitment at MBFC3 has risen to 79% currently.

Going forward:

Rolling out more projects. Looking ahead, with its Singapore investment property portfolio largely monetized and its overseas commercial projects due to complete in 2015, Keppel Land would continue to focus on its core residential operations. The group is planning to launch 2 new projects in Singapore this year, in Tanah Merah and Keppel Bay Plot 3 while in China, it has maintained a planned launch pipeline of 2000 units from projects such as The Botanica in Chengdu, Central Park City in Wuxi and Springdale in Shanghai.

In addition, new projects like the Panchenggang and Nanxiang apartments and Mumashan landed homes in Chengdu are also planned to be offered this year. This will continue to underpin core profits. With a balance sheet gearing of 22%, the company is still in a healthy position to look for new investments, which would bring them into the next growth phase. Singapore, China as well as Vietnam and Indonesia continue to be core markets.