UOL profits surge to $618.06m in Q3

Gains from the acquisition of 60 million UIC shares boosted earnings.

UOL Group pops the champagne on its profits as they surged from $87.12m to $618.06m in Q3.

This was due to the firm accounting for UIC as a subsidiary after it bought 60 million shares in August. Excluding other gains, net profits increased 8% YoY from $84.04m to $90.88m.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this bump in profitability is mainly due to a fair value uplift of UIC assets, namely $421m to PPE, which will result in higher depreciation in future, and a $82.3m fair value uplift to development properties, which will lead to fewer development profits in future.

Q3 revenues rose by 37% YoY to $537.9m due to the consolidation of UIC.

However, contributions from development fell by 3% due to the completion of Riverbank@Fernvale in March.

Meanwhile, contributions from hotel operations increased 5% due to maiden contributions from Pan Pacific Melbourne which was acquired in July.