S'pore beverages group profit up

S'pore beverages group profit up

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's leading food and beverage manufacturer, the Fraser and Neave group, recorded a net profit of S$43 million (US$28 million) for the half-year ending March 31, officials said.

The company, also involved in property and brewing, said in a statement issued late Friday that this was 6.9 percent higher than the profits for the corresponding period of the previous year.

It attributed its good performance to the group's property arm, Centrepoint Properties, which raked in a pre-tax development profit of S$15.3 million from the sale of condominium units.

However its other assosiate, Asia-Pacific Breweries, saw a 3.1 percent fall in its net profit to 40.7 million Singapore dollars due to regional developments and higher taxes in Singapore.

Asia Pacific Breweries recently set up a plant in Vietnam and began operations about three months ago. Its main business, the production of soft drinks, saw a static performance with a pre- tax profit of 12.6 million Singapore dollars, the statement said.

It added that start-up costs for a soft-drinks plant in Cambodia was one of the factors for the static profits although its trading performance there was improving.

It said that soft-drinks operating profits in Singapore and Malaysia were improving but in Malaysia the gains were dampened by pressure on margins and the weak Malaysian currency, the ringgit.