CAPITALAND Investment (CLI) posted a 6 per cent fall in net profit to S$331 million for the six months ended Jun 30, from S$351 million the year before.
The real asset manager said on Wednesday (Aug 14) that its stronger fee-income-related business performance was offset by a weaker real estate investment business for the period.
CLI’s earnings per share for H1 also declined 6 per cent to S$0.065, from S$0.069 previously.
Revenue was up 1 per cent to S$1.37 billion for the half year, from S$1.35 billion in the corresponding period the previous year.
The company said its fee-income-related business’ 8 per cent year-on-year growth to S$561 million for the half-year period was underpinned by improved asset performance and contributions from new management contracts in its lodging and commercial management business. CLI’s fund management business also contributed to the revenue growth, on the back of higher event-driven fees.
Meanwhile, CLI recorded revenue of S$911 million for its real estate investment business in H1, down 2 per cent from S$932 million year on year. This was due to the lack of contributions from properties divested in China, Australia, France, India and Singapore, as well as lower corporate leasing demand in the US.
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Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 8 per cent to S$819 million in H1, from S$757 million previously. This was mainly due to higher portfolio gains from asset-recycling activities.
CLI posted higher portfolio gains in H1 of S$35 million, from S$7 million the year before. This was driven by completion gains from earlier divestments, as well as participation in distribution reinvestment plans from CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and CapitaLand China Trust.
Lee Chee Koon, group chief executive of CLI, said: “We will sustain the ongoing momentum of divesting assets in China and the US, and continue to focus on building new capabilities in markets beyond Singapore and China.”
He added that the company will focus on asset classes such as data centres, wellness and private credit, and will ramp up capital raising and deployment in lodging, logistics and self-storage.
CLI did not recommend any dividend for H1, as it only pays first and final dividends.
On Tuesday, CLI announced the first close of its sixth onshore renminbi fund – China Business Park RMB Fund II – to invest in China’s business park sector, with an initial equity investment of 1.2 billion yuan (S$221 million). When fully deployed, the fund is expected to add two billion yuan to CLI’s funds under management.
Shares of CLI closed 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$2.53 on Tuesday.
