Earnings shot up 165 per cent at Boustead Projects in the third quarter because of an unusually low margin from a project in the same period a year earlier.

Net profit for the three months to Dec 31 came in at $7.2 million on revenue of $85.6 million, down 14 per cent.

Higher gross profit margins for the design-and-build business helped drive gross profit up 83 per cent to $19.4 million. Gross profit contribution from the leasing business was also higher.

However, revenue from the design-and-build business fell 17 per cent but still contributed 90 per cent of the group's total turnover for the quarter.

Leasing revenue was $8.5 million, 31 per cent up on last year.

Managing director Thomas Chu said the firm had clinched a number of contracts recently.

"Most of them come from Malaysia - a key overseas market for us - and one contract was for a sizeable data centre, thus allowing us to strengthen our foothold in higher value chain industries which we are targeting," he said in a statement.

Boustead Projects said that despite the "highly challenging and competitive industrial real estate market", its order book backlog stood at a "healthy" $179 million as at Dec 31.

Earnings per share was 2.2 cents, up 175 per cent from 0.8 cent a year earlier, while net asset value per share was 58.9 cents as at Dec 31, down from 79 cents as at March 31 last year.

The group noted that prices and rents of industrial space in Singapore continued to fall in tandem with occupancy rates during the last three months of 2015.

Occupancy rates are expected to face further downward pressure, given the extra supply coming onstream this year and in 2017.

Boustead Projects shares closed 3.5 cents or 5.15 per cent down at 64.5 cents yesterday.

Results were released after the market closed.