• Attributable profit boosted by China, Australia residential

• Company to ‘gradually increase’ development exposure

Frasers Property Ltd., the developer controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, saw full-year earnings rise, led by higher residential contributions from China and Australia.

Attributable profit climbed 19% to S$206.3 million ($154 million) in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the Singapore-based company said in an exchange filing Wednesday. That compared with S$173.1 million reported last year.

The profit jump was also helped by valuation gains on Singapore properties and industrial and logistics real estate in Europe and Australia, although they were partially offset by valuation losses on commercial assets in the UK and Australia. Revenue rose almost 7% to S$4.2 billion from a year earlier, beating a consensus analyst estimate of S$3.65 billion.

For Singapore’s third-largest listed developer, led by Charoen’s son and Chief Executive Officer Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, questions remain over where the firm fits in with the aging patriarch’s empire and succession plans. Charoen, 80, has denied a report that he may sell off control of the real estate company.

Frasers remains “cautious about the macroeconomic environment” although it has taken steps to improve its strategic focus, Panote said in a statement. The company also said it will “gradually increase” its development exposure in both residential and selected non-residential asset classes to deliver better risk-adjusted returns.

Share Swap

In July, a share swap was announced realigning the billionaire’s control of Frasers, with Thai Beverage Pcl exiting its sizable stake in the developer. It now means the tycoon’s investment holding firm TCC Assets Ltd. controls almost 87% of Frasers, near a 90% threshold for the suspension of trading under Singapore exchange rules.

Like other Singapore developers, Frasers has struggled with underperformance in the stock market. Its shares are largely unchanged this year through Tuesday’s close, versus a nearly 15% rally in the benchmark Straits Times Index.

Charoen, who also controls ThaiBev, lost his status as Thailand’s richest person to energy tycoon Sarath Ratanavadi earlier in 2024, and now has a net worth of about $12.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Frasers is betting on marquee projects, including One Bangkok, a multi-billion integrated development in Thailand’s capital, and a joint residential project in Singapore with local competitor City Developments Ltd. and Sekisui House Ltd., a Japanese builder.

Still, it has faced various setbacks in Singapore, including failed bids by consortiums it was part of for a rental pilot site and another for an alternative business district in the city’s west. Both attempts were rejected by authorities as they were priced too low.