KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Tropicana Corp Bhd (KL:TROP) said its earnings surged in the second quarter from last year, boosted by a large unrealised gain of RM62.97 million on quoted shares.

A higher progress billing, and lower finance cost following the group’s debt reduction initiatives also contributed to the jump in net profit to RM43.56 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024 (2QFY2024) — its highest quarterly earnings since 4QFY2020 — from RM305,000 a year earlier.

Earnings per share rose to 1.92 sen from 0.02 sen in 2QFY2023, the property developer said in a bourse filing.

Revenue for the quarter, however, dropped 17.18% to RM384.7 million from RM464.51 million, mainly due to disposals of its investment properties, namely St Joseph’s Institution International School in September 2023 and W Kuala Lumpur in January 2024, which resulted in a loss of revenue. The group was also hit by lower revenue from land disposals.

Tropicana did not declare any dividend for the quarter.

For the first half of FY2024, Tropicana posted a net profit of RM34.49 million against a net loss of RM4.93 million in the same period of FY2023, thanks to higher progress billings. Revenue slipped 6.28% to RM675.97 million from RM721.24 million.

Despite the lower revenue from the investment properties due to the disposals, the group said the property development segment has shown significant improvement compared to last year, on the back of higher progress billings received from ongoing construction projects that are nearing completion.

“With Tropicana’s high unbilled sales of RM2.3 billion and a sizeable land bank of 1,842 acres with an estimated GDV [gross development value] of RM120 billion, the group is in a good position to deliver sustainable performance in the next few years,” Tropicana said in a statement.

Shares of Tropicana closed two sen or 1.35% higher at RM1.50 on Thursday, valuing the group at RM3.45 billion.