Fijian Holdings Limited subsidiary, FHL Properties Ltd, achieved full occupancy of its commercial building spaces, its annual report noted.
Wholly owned by FHL, FHLP has four commercial buildings with 132,000 sq.ft in Suva City, drawing 45 tenants. This retail arm is emerging as a significant platform for FHL.
The group’s fifth property is a 17-storey building – FHL Tower, that will fill Suva’s skyline.
“This would be the biggest property investment done to date by FHL Group,” the report noted.
“During the year, FHLP achieved 100% occupancy of its space and recorded a pre-tax profit of $1.06 million on a revenue of $3.90 million. This represents a growth of 2.5% and 24.8 % respectively for revenue and profits.”
Fellow subsidiary, Pacific Cement Ltd achieved historical record sales of 150,543 tonnes in its 60 years of operations. Revenue grew by 20 percent to each $38.09 million for the year ended June 2016, while pre-tax profit reached $2.63 million, marking a 97 percent growth.
Challenges and continual losses in Papua New Guinea, however, forced FHL to divest its concrete batching operations there.
Over $7 million was lost from operating the plant in Port Moresby, FHL noted, though plans are still in place.
“We still do see the brighter side of PNG, the largest country among Pacific Islands in terms of GDP.”
Following their disposal, FHL invested a further six million PGK in Pernix PNG Ltd, which will focus on PNG’s construction and power sector.