KepLand to focus on township, waterfront developments

Source : Business Times - 10 Apr 2009

THE road ahead is uncertain, but Keppel Land will continue to focus on its residential township and waterfront developments, among other things, the developer said in its 2008 annual report.

The report also showed that chief executive Kevin Wong earned $2-2.25 million in 2008. By contrast, he took home between $3.25-3.5 million in 2007.

The company reiterated that it would phase or delay projects to conserve cash, and that it was also ready to monetise assets. It will also control project and operation costs.

It added that it was still on the lookout for opportunities from the downturn.

In addition to township development and marina and waterfront projects, it will also continue to focus on sustainable projects, prime office space and property fund management.

Right now, residential townships account for two- thirds of the company’s total landbank of 60,000 homes across Asia and the Middle East.

During the recent market rally, Keppel Land was the best performer in terms of share price performance, OCBC Investment Research noted in a recent report.

The company’s share price rose 43.9 per cent to $1.64 from March 9 to April 7 - outperforming the 23.7 per cent gain in the benchmark Straits Times Index and the average gain of 24.5 per cent for large- cap developers during the same period.

Keppel Land’s shares rose eight cents to close $1.62 yesterday after a pull-back on Wednesday.

‘Prior to the market rally, KepLand’s share price had underperformed its peers and we believe that the outperformance in KepLand’s shares could be driven by oversold buying,’ said OCBC analyst Foo Sze Ming.

Property sales for KepLand are expected to remain slow in 2009 as the developer’s unsold properties and landbank are mostly from the high-end segment, Mr Foo said.

However, earnings from the property development segment will continue to be driven by the progressive profit recognition of sold projects in Singapore (Marina Bay Residences, The Sixth Avenue Residences, The Suites at Central and Reflections at Keppel Bay) and overseas.