Singapore Tycoon Cheng Wai Keung’s Wing Tai Posts Robust Profit On Property, Uniqlo Contributions

Wing Tai Holdings—controlled by tycoon Cheng Wai Keung—said Thursday its net profit more than tripled as sales of its residential projects increased and contributions from its Uniqlo stores across Singapore and Malaysia improved amid easing pandemic restrictions.

Net profit jumped to S$140.2 million ($100.8 million) in the year ended June 30, from S$43.6 million the previous year, Wing Tai said in a regulatory filing. Revenue rose 12% to S$514.6 million, reflecting increased sales of its residential projects.

In Singapore, the company has sold more than 90% of the 522 apartment units at the M—a mixed-used development comprising of three 20-story towers and a six-story commercial hub in the Bugis area on the edge of the central business district—as of end-June. Wing Tai said it booked some S$177 million sales at the M as well as other projects in Singapore and Malaysia in the year ended June.

While the group said it is closely monitoring the business environment amid headwinds coming from property cooling measures in Singapore, rising interest rates and heightened geopolitical tensions around the world, Wing Tai is also looking at new opportunities.

In May, Wing Tai won the tender to acquire a redevelopment site in the western Singapore town of Jurong for S$273.9 million. “Given the limited supply of new residential developments in the area, we are confident that demand for this project will be strong,” Tan Hwee Bin, executive director of Wing Tai, said in a statement then.

Besides its property development business, the retail business is also another pillar of growth for Wing Tai, whose share of profits from associate and joint ventures (including the Uniqlo stores in Singapore and Malaysia) tripled to S$112.2 million in the year ended June.

Wing Tai was founded in 1955 by Cheng Wai Keung’s father as a garment maker. The company has since grown to become one of Singapore’s major real estate developers with total assets worth S$4.3 billion as of end-June. With a net worth of $760 million, Cheng, 71, ranked No. 48 in the list of Singapore’s 50 Richest that was published in August last year.