CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) announced that its revenue for the second quarter ended 30 June 2012 jumped 18.7 percent to $74.6 million while earnings jumped 40.7 percent to $232 million, mainly driven mainly by portfolio gain from its injection of two of its China assets into private fund, as well as fresh contributions from newly-acquired properties in China and Japan.
During the analysts and media briefing on 26 July, chief executive officer of CMA Lim Beng Chee said he remains sanguine on the outlook for its key markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia and China. Notably, CMA’s China malls recorded net property income growth of 18.3 percent, and tenants’ sales increased 11.6 percent for the six months at this year as compared to 1H11 – driven by tenants’ sales in second- and third-tier cities, which grew even faster at 15.9 percent.
Earlier in July, CMA announced the establishment of $1.3 billion CapitaMalls China Development Fund III (CMCDF III), in which it will own a 50 percent-stake. Said to be the largest equity private fund of CMA to date with fund life of eight years, CMCDF III will invest in developing shopping malls and properties mainly for retail purposes in China.
CMA opened two malls in 2Q12 – JCube in Singapore and CapitaMall Taiyanggong in Beijing. Moving forward, it targets to open another seven in 2012, five in 2013 and 13 in 2014 and beyond.
Vivit Square, Tokyo
The Celebration Mall, Udaipur
In addition, CMA expects 2012 retail sales in Singapore to be boosted by gross domestic product growth of between 1 percent and 3 percent, while retail sales in China are expected to grow between 16 percent and 17 percent, driven by forecasted economic expansion of 8 percent for the whole year.
A total of 1.625 cents of dividend has been proposed for the second quarter of 2012 (2Q11: 1.5 cents). Based on the current outlook and growth momentum, CMA expects this year’s total dividend payout to be at least equal to last year’s 3 cents.
