CapitaLand's 4th-quarter profit falls 45 pct on one-off loss

SINGAPORE, Feb 19(Reuters) - Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd

CATL.SI , Southeast Asia's largest property developer, said on Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit slumped 45.6 percent on the year on a one-off loss on divestment of part of its Australand stake.

CapitaLand, which operates in Singapore and China among other countries, reported a profit after tax and minority interest (PATMI) of S$142.9 million for the October-December quarter. News Search ID:nSNZ12KzWQ

The loss on the Australand Property Group ALZ.AX stake sale in November also affected CapitaLand's full-year profit. Its 2013 PATMI dropped 8.7 percent from a year earlier to S$849.8, undershooting an average forecast of S$976 million by five analysts polled by Reuters.

Operating PATMI, a gauge of profitability of core business, was S$527.7 million for the year, below a forecast average of S$555.7 million.

Fourth-quarter revenue eased 2.3 percent year-on-year, dragged down by the Australand stake sale and a 37 percent drop in contribution from the company's Singapore operations, offset by the strong growth in the company's China business and mall operations.

"As the impact of the total debt servicing ratio and concerns over interest rate hikes continue to weigh on the market (in Singapore), private residential demand and pricing are expected to further moderate in 2014," the company said in a statement.

CapitaLand, however, remains positive on the long-term demand for new homes in Singapore, as well as in China.

CapitaLand proposed an ordinary dividend of 8.0 Singapore cents per share for the year, up from 7.0 Singapore cents in 2012.

(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Leslie Adler)

((rujun.shen@thomsonreuters.com)(+65-6403-5666)(Reuters Messaging: rujun.shen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: CAPITALAND RESULTS/