SINGAPORE - Property company Singhaiyi Group reported lower earnings for the three months ended Dec 31, as higher tax expenses and lower finance income eroded the bottomline.

Revenue for the period was up 20.8 per cent year on year to S$12 million. With cost of sales dropping 7.8 per cent, gross profit surged 71.5 per cent to S$6.2 million.

But a tax expense of S$1.3 million - up from just S$74,000 a year ago - and a S$0.6 million finance income loss meant that net profit was just S$1.1 million, down 56.6 per cent year on year. The higher tax expense was incurred due to profit in Vietnam Town, a commercial condominium project in the United States.

Singhaiyi has presence in Singapore, the US and Malaysia. In Singapore, the company continues to make progress selling the executive condominium project The Vales, with over 84 per cent of its 517 units sold to date, a results announcement on Thursday (Feb 9) said.

"The group also expects to obtain TOP for City Suites, a 17-storey private freehold residential project, by the first half of 2017," it added. The project's marketing will start in April.

In the US, Singhaiyi plans to redevelop its office building in San Francisco into a waterfront lifestyle residential project, which received approval for construction in December.

Singhaiyi expects the Singapore property market to remain soft, while conditions will be stable in the US.

Singhaiyi shares rose 0.3 cents or 2.40 per cent to 12.8 cents ahead of the results announcement.