Fair value gains lift UOL’s Q2 profit

SINGAPORE – UOL Group, the Singapore property developer controlled by billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, said Wednesday second-quarter net profit surged 151 per cent from a year earlier, due mainly to higher fair value gains on investment properties.

Net profit for the three months ended June rose to S$431.4 million from S$171.7 million the same period a year earlier, the company said.

Revenue edged up 2 per cent to S$304.31 million.

All segments with the exception of development properties recorded improved revenue with the increase attributed mainly to higher turnover from PARKROYAL Yangon and PARKROYAL on Pickering, which opened in the first quarter of 2013, and higher dividend income from quoted investments.

Fair value gains on investment properties including those of associated companies surged 386 per cent to S$400.3 million.

UOL plans to launch its Bright Hill Drive and St Patrick’s Garden projects in the second half of the year. It also clinched a 16,604-sq-m leasehold land at Sengkang West Way at a government land sale in April.

UOL added on Wednesday that it has increased its stake in Pan Pacific Hotels Group to 95.1 per cent.