SINGAPORE - The Sim Lian Group announced today that they recorded a profit before income tax of $43.5 million in the second quarter of this year, a 29 per cent drop from the $60.9 million recorded in the same period last year.

Net profit decreased to $35.16 million, or 4.1 cents per share, from $52.13 million, or 6.1 cents per share.

Sim Lian said the decrease in the profit numbers is mainly due to a decrease in revenue of $33.1 million, which was partially offset by a decrease in contract costs of $22.9 million.

Revenue from property development division contributed $81.4 million to the Group's revenue in Q2 2012, compared to $107.9 million in Q2 2011.

This decrease of 25 per cent was attributed to the decrease in revenue from property development.

Revenue from external projects of the construction division contributed $39.2 million, a decrease of 14 per cent from the $45.5 million in 2QFY2011.

Sim Lian said this is as most of their new projects are in their early stage of construction during this period.

However, overall performance still held strong, with year-to-date earnings having increased by 118 per cent to $137.82 million from $63.15 million a year ago.

The Business Times reported that earnings per share for the half year ended Dec 31, was 16.1 cents - a significant increase from the 7.4 cents a year ago.