HONG KONG: Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, Asia's largest developer by market value, posted underlying profit of HK$10.42 billion (RM4.08 billion), beating forecasts on strong property sales in the Chinese territory.

• Reiterate OUTPERFORM recommendation. Mah Sing’s final results met expectations as FY10 net profit matched consensus estimates and was just 2% shy of our forecast.

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, chairman of Sunrise Bhd and The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd, has been appointed a non-independent and non-executive director of UEM Land Holdings Bhd, according to a statement from UEM Land said.

Tong's entry into UEM Land follows the government-linked company's acquisition of Sunrise to create Malaysia's largest listed property development company.

KUALA LUMPUR: This year, Vietnam celebrates 25 years of the "Doi moi" ("renewal" in Vietnamese) economic reforms initiated in 1986 that paved the way for a socialist-oriented market economy.

In the past decade, these reforms have made Vietnam one of Asia's success stories as it made its transition from a command to a more market-oriented economy.

KOTA KINABALU: Construction and property player Bina Puri Holdings Bhd is set to emerge as the largest shareholder in beleaguered Oriented Media Group Bhd (OMedia) with equity interest of at least 60% in exchange for its polyol manufacturing business and power assets in Indonesia, said its executive director Matthew Tee.

Rising interest in industrial properties
The industrial property market is not usually on the average property investor’s radar screen, and for good reason — it requires familiarity with the different markets that different types of industrial properties serve.

Quantum Victory Sdn Bhd may be small, but the developer has done well in its maiden project.The company held a soft launch for its first development — Gaia16@Sering Ukay — on Jan 17. Barely a week later, 9 of the 16 three-storey bungalows had been snapped up — mainly by residents of the adjacent housing estate, Sering Ukay, wanting to upgrade.

The fourth and latest round of property-cooling measures  in Singapore seems to have been effective. New private home sales for January totalled 1,189 units, down 11% from the 1,332 units taken up in December, according to data from Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Property values along MRT line to appreciateThe value of houses located along the proposed MRT line, like those in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) and Bandar Utama, are expected to appreciate.