PropNex's earnings for 4QFY2022 up by 24.5% y-o-y to $17.8 mil; FY2022 revenue hits record high

By Felicia Tan

/ The Edge Singapore |

February 28, 2023 9:52 AM SGT

Gafoor: We have wrapped up the year with a record full-year revenue posted in PropNex’s history (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) PropNex Limited has reported earnings of $17.8 million for the 4QFY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, 24.5% higher than the earnings of $14.3 million in the corresponding period the year before.

This brings the group’s earnings for FY2022 to $62.4 million, 3.9% higher y-o-y.

During FY2022, revenue increased by 7.5% y-o-y to a record $1.03 billion, surpassing the $1 billion mark for the first time. This was boosted by the 23.3% y-o-y growth in 4QFY2022’s revenue of $293.4 million, which was a quarterly record.

The higher y-o-y revenue in the 4QFY2022 was due to an increase in commission income from agency services and from the group’s project marketing services as a result of higher transactions completed for both agency services and project marketing in the last quarter on the back of improvements in the economy and in the Covid-19 situation.

The growth in FY2022 revenue was due to higher commission income from agency services of approximately $121.4 million and partially offset by decrease in commission income from project marketing services of approximately $51.8 million. This was a result of higher number of transactions completed for agency services partially offset by fewer project marketing launches in FY2022.

Gross profit for FY2022 increased by 2.8% y-o-y to $104.7 million in tandem with the revenue increase.

Other income increased by 131.1% y-o-y to $16.1 million due to the derecognition of trade payables to agents of approximately $7.8 million and an increase in advertising and marketing income by approximately $1.9 million. The higher other income was partially offset by a decrease in referral fee income by approximately $0.7 million.

Earnings per share (EPS) for the 4QFY2022 and FY2022 stood at 4.80 cents and 16.85 cents respectively.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $138.8 million.

“We have wrapped up the year with a record full-year revenue posted in PropNex’s history. Despite limited new project launches and a decline in home price growth in the fourth quarter of 2022, we managed to turn in a healthy set of results following improvements in both the Covid-19 situation and the overall economy. Looking forward, we believe that buying interest will continue to remain resilient, as seen by the successful launch of Sceneca Residences early this year and with a healthy pipeline of new launches expected in 2023,” says Ismail Gafoor, co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of PropNex.

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One-for-one bonus issue

The group has proposed to undertake a bonus issue where one bonus share will be credited as fully paid per every existing PropNex share held.

Up to 370 million new ordinary shares will be issued to PropNex’s shareholders with the proposed issue.

This is the first bonus share issue undertaken by PropNex and was done in a bid to encourage trading liquidity in addition to broadening the distribution of PropNex’s shares, says Gafoor.

Dividend

A final dividend of 8 cents per share has been proposed, payable on May 12. This brings the total dividend for the FY2022 to 13.5 cents per share, or 80% of the group’s FY2022 earnings.

As at Jan 1, the group’s number of salespersons grew by 8% y-o-y to 11,667, still making it the largest real estate agency in Singapore.

Looking ahead, the group expects overall private home prices to rise by 5% to 6% in 2023, easing from the 8.6% increase in 2022 in view of the high land cost and rising construction cost faced by developers. Demand for HDB resale flats are also expected to remain stable with the group projecting that 28,000 to 30,000 flats could be resold this year with the Budget 2023 announcement on Feb 14 on the additional CPF housing grants given for first-time buyers.

“With higher grants for two to four-room HDB flats, this will encourage right-sizing of homes - potentially easing demand for five-room or larger flats. On the flipside, this could also further spur demand for resale flats given tight market supply, thereby keeping prices firm,” says Gafoor. (Find HDB flats for rent or sale with our Singapore HDB directory)

“Also, measures such as higher marginal Buyer’s Stamp Duty for higher-value residential and non-residential properties should not impact home sales significantly, as this should be manageable for buyers of homes priced over $1.5 million and $3 million. Overall, we expect demand for non-residential properties in Singapore to remain resilient, underpinned by the country’s sound fundamentals,” he adds.

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