CDL says outlook ‘remains unpredictable’ despite improvement

• City Developments Ltd (SGX: C09) share price rose to S$7.53 on Friday (21 May 2021) morning
• The property developer and its associates reported a 72% year-on-year increase in units sold in the first quarter of 2021
• Analysts currently envision a 25% upside on the blue-chip stock
• The group says the outlook for the rest of 2021 ‘remains unpredictable’ despite signs of improvement across its core segments
• Buy and sell CDL stocks with an IG account

CDL share price: What’s the latest?

City Developments Limited (CDL) shares rallied as much as 1.62% after it posted an operational update for the first quarter of 2021 ended 31 March 2021.

The blue-chip counter is down 4.4% year to date. Analyst sentiments published by SGX StockFacts show a consensus rating of ‘outperform’ and average target price of S$9.32 on the stock.

The target price represents an upside of 24.9% from its last traded price of S$7.46 on Friday.

The property development group and its joint venture (JV) associates sold 319 units with a total sales value of $513.6 million in Q1 2021, a 72% increase in units sold over the same period last year. A total sales value of S$278.1 million from sales of 185 units was recorded in Q1 2020.

CDL said the sales were ‘well spread out’ among the various property categories ranging from executive condominiums to luxury apartments. In particular, Amber Park performed strongly with sales of around 100 units.

On the commercial and retail fronts, the committed occupancy of CDL’s Singapore office and retail portfolio remain ‘resilient’ at 91.4% and 92.1% respectively, above the island-wide occupancy of 88.1% and 91.5%, as of March 2021.

What is CDL’s outlook for the rest of 2021?

Meanwhile, construction activities have also resumed at all ongoing development projects. However, due to the labour shortage which has affected the entire industry, activities have not returned to pre-Covid levels.

In view of the above, the group does not have any projects due for completion this year. Current projects under construction are scheduled for completion from mid-2022 to 2023.

‘Though signs of improvement are evident across the Group’s core business segments, the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic which has been plagued by new variant strains emerging and subsequent waves of infection remains a concern as it continues to adversely impact operations,’ CDL said in a Singapore Exchange filing posted on Wednesday.

As such, the group said that the outlook for 2021 ‘remains unpredictable’.

‘The group continues to embrace cautious optimism with the acceleration of the global Covid-19 vaccination rollout and concerted efforts in pandemic containment,’ it added.

It will ‘simultaneously continue to shift gears from crisis management back to its core strategy focusing on growth, enhancement and transformation’, in a bid to ‘accelerate growth and recovery with the aim of maximising shareholder value’.

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