Singha Estate reports a robust 92% revenue growth in the first half of the year to 5.79 billion baht, showcasing its first profit in five quarters, and aims to drive strong performance across all four business sectors in the second half of the year, alongside the launch of a new single-house project to support annual revenue growth beyond targets.

Singha Estate reported revenue of 5.79 billion baht in the first half of 2022, an increase of 92% compared to the same period last year. This growth was driven by revenue increases across all business sectors and the recognition of income from the sale of industrial estate land for the first time in the second quarter, reflecting the success of the company's business restructuring efforts over the past two years. The company focused on a diversified investment strategy to create variety across its four interconnected business sectors, confident that revenue in 2022 will nearly double, reaching a new high for the company.

The increase in total revenue was primarily due to the outstanding performance of the hotel business sector, which reported 3.76 billion baht, nearly tripling compared to the first half of 2021. This was a result of the continued strong performance of both hotels in the CROSSROADS Phase 1 project in the Maldives and the hotel portfolio in the UK, which grew by 128% from the first half of 2021, accounting for 75% of total revenue. Additionally, the company observed a rapid recovery trend in the Outrigger hotel portfolio and hotels in Thailand, which saw revenue grow more than eightfold compared to the same period last year, contributing 25% of total revenue. As tourism and flight services return to normal, the company aims for these two hotel portfolios to generate 35% of total revenue during normal business operations, or over 4 billion baht, signaling positive future revenue growth.

Additionally, revenue from the commercial real estate sector improved by 5%, resulting from maintaining an overall occupancy rate of 88% and successfully increasing rental rates despite challenging conditions. This led to a 132% growth in revenue from sales and services to 4.37 billion baht in the first half of 2022, along with real estate sales revenue of 1.42 billion baht, a 25% increase from the first half of 2021, reflecting the successful transfer of condominium ownership from the The ES Singha Complex and The ES Asoke projects, as well as the recognition of income from the sale of industrial estate land for the first time in the second quarter of 2022.

Ms. Thitima Rungkwansiriroj, CEO of Singha Estate Public Company Limited or 'S' stated, "The second quarter was a time to reap the rewards of Singha Estate's business restructuring, particularly with additional investments in hotels that will create seasonal revenue balance for the company's portfolio. In the second quarter, we entered the tourism season for the UK and Fiji, with revenues from both portfolios growing by 40% and 100% from the previous quarter. Furthermore, the investment in the industrial estate business not only helps balance the customer base revenue for Singha Estate but also creates opportunities for recurring income for the company in the long term. In the second quarter, the company recognized income from the sale of 77 rai of land to B. Grimm Power (Ang Thong) along with the gradual recovery of other businesses and effective cost control, resulting in Singha Estate reporting a net profit of 102 million baht in the second quarter of 2022. We hope the company will maintain momentum in generating profits continuously."

Overall performance for the remainder of this year is expected to continue growing by about 30% compared to the first half, driven by revenue from the hotel business and sales of houses and condominiums. The company has seen clear positive signals from hotel operational statistics in July 2022, with the average occupancy rate across the portfolio rising to 70%.

It is anticipated that this upward trend will continue, especially as we enter the tourism season for the Maldives and Thailand in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the company is implementing strategies to improve hotel rooms to enhance portfolio efficiency, which is a key mechanism to drive the average daily rate (ADR) growth, particularly for hotels in the CROSSROADS project and the UK hotel portfolio, which are expected to achieve ADRs higher than 41% and 27% respectively compared to 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Another crucial factor driving revenue in the second half is the hotel portfolio in Thailand, which has shown rapid recovery signs since July, the first month of fully welcoming international tourists, resulting in occupancy rates of 68% and 63% for SAii Laguna Phuket and SAii Phi Phi Island Village hotels, respectively. With the strength of the locations of all the company's hotels, which are situated in key tourist areas, combined with successful brand awareness efforts, we are confident in the continuous upward trend of operational performance and expect the hotel portfolio in Thailand to generate nearly double the revenue in the second half of the year.

The company anticipates that the transfer of ownership for the Santi Buri The Residences project will also accelerate in the second half, supported by revenue recognition from the new single-house project, Siraninn Residences, which is expected to begin transferring ownership in the fourth quarter of 2022. This will help drive residential business revenue growth by 50% or over 3.3 billion baht in 2022. The Siraninn Residences project is expected to launch sales in September 2022, located in Soi Pattanakarn 32, which is currently the most premium residential area for horizontal projects in the city. The project features luxury horizontal single houses in a two-story format within a quality community, limited to only 28 plots, priced between 65 to 180 million baht, and home offices priced around 20 million baht for four plots. The project has received positive feedback from existing customers, who are loyal fans of the Singha Estate brand, giving us confidence that the transfer target set for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be achieved.

The company aims to launch new residential projects over the next five years with a target value of 52 billion baht, focusing on developing luxury horizontal projects across three new segments that cover a wider price range, adjusting prices down from 100 million to 10 million baht per unit. New single-house projects in two additional segments will be officially launched within 2022. The company currently has two plots of land ready for development and is awaiting the transfer of additional land ownership to proceed with the development of four projects set to launch in 2023, with a goal of acquiring 5-7 more potential land plots each year for continuous development and project launches from 2023 onwards, amounting to over 10 billion baht annually.

Regarding the progress of leasing the company's retail space for long-term lease to the SPRIME Real Estate Investment Trust, on June 24, 2022, the retail space in the Sun Towers project was leased for a total value of 213 million baht. The leased area that SPRIME invested in now has a high occupancy rate of 98%, ensuring that SPRIME is investing in high-potential real estate that will provide good long-term returns for the SPRIME trust. However, the plan for long-term leasing of the Singha Complex office building has been postponed due to the volatile capital market conditions and the economic pressures from interest rate adjustments, inflation, oil prices, the pandemic, and various international political conflicts. Nonetheless, we remain confident in the operational performance of the Singha Complex office building, which generates approximately 400 million baht in operational profit for the company annually," Ms. Thitima stated.