GuocoLand Revenue Jumps 60% as Singapore Office Project Gains Steam

GuocoLand’s full-year profit fell 47 percent on lighter investment gains and rising financial costs, but revenue surged 60 percent as the company began recording rental income from the Guoco Midtown office tower.

The Singapore development arm of Malaysia’s Hong Leong Group posted a profit attributable to equity holders of S$207.1 million ($153 million) for the 12 months ended 30 June, easing from the S$392.7 million booked a year earlier.

Property development revenue shot up 62 percent to S$1.3 billion on higher progressive recognition of sales from high-end projects including Meyer Mansion, Midtown Modern and Lentor Modern, all of which are substantially sold, GuocoLand said Tuesday in a release. Property investment revenue grew 35 percent to S$169.6 million, supported by higher recurring rental income from Guoco Tower and Shanghai’s Guoco Changfeng City South Tower.

“The twin engines of property investment and property development will continue to underpin the group’s profits and future growth,” said CEO Cheng Hsing Yao. “GuocoLand is now a highly regarded brand in premium residential developments as well as integrated mixed developments anchored by five premium Grade A offices.”

Midtown Movement

By the end of June, Guoco Midtown had achieved an 85 percent pre-commitment take-up for its 709,000 square feet (65,868 square metres) of net lettable area, GuocoLand said. The project in the Beach Road-Bugis area has signed up tenants including chemical giant BASF, computer game maker NetEase Interactive Entertainment, shipping firm Pacific International Lines and distiller Suntory.

Guoco Midtown’s 30-storey office tower received a temporary occupation permit in January, and retail components were completed this month. Midtown Bay, a 33-storey condo tower with 219 high-end units, and Midtown House, a conserved building formerly known as Beach Road Police Station, are to be completed by year-end as part of the complex’s phased roll-out.

Mingtiandi reported in June that advertising giant Publicis Groupe had leased 55,000 square feet of office space at Guoco Midtown, with the Paris-based group set to occupy more than one floor in the office tower and a portion of the Midtown House building.

GuocoLand’s other commercial developments in Singapore, Guoco Tower and 20 Collyer Quay, had a healthy occupancy rate of 98 percent as of June, while Guoco Changfeng City enjoyed a 95 percent take-up rate, the company said.

Lentor Hills News

GuocoLand in July began sales at Lentor Hills Residences as the second project to be launched at Singapore’s Lentor Hills estate, with the 598-unit development selling 50 percent of its units over the launch weekend. The first project, Lentor Modern, has sold 89 percent of its 605 units.

The next project at the estate is a high-end residential development with 533 units, inspired by modern concepts of living amid nature and greenery, with a launch date in the first half of 2024. On the commercial side, Lentor Modern, a transit-oriented mixed-use development, is to feature a 96,000 square foot mall when it opens after the expected completion in 2026.

Across GuocoLand’s collection of high-end residential developments, sales as of June reached as high as 99 percent at both the 376-unit The Avenir in River Valley and the 200-unit Meyer Mansion in Marine Parade, while Midtown Modern had sold 91 percent of its 558 units and Midtown Bay had shifted 51 percent of its 219 homes.