Centurion Club: Real Estate

PropNex OYY, the largest real estate agency in Singapore, has again been named the overall sector winner in the real estate industry category at this year’s Centurion Club. In addition, PropNex was tops for returns to shareholders and weighted return on equity (ROE). PropNex was prevented from making a clean sweep, unlike in last year’s BDC when dormitory operator Centurion Corp and Tosei Corp jointly took home growth in profit after tax. Similarly, in the preceding year, 2022, PropNex made a similar clean sweep, picking up too the overall winner title of the Centurion Club.

For the three years taken into consideration for this year’s BDC, PropNex generated a weighted ROE of 47.4%, putting itself not only among all real estate companies in the Centurion category but also at the top among all Centurion companies. For the returns to shareholders category, PropNex managed 19.3% for the three years taken into consideration, earning it sixth place among all Centurion companies.

PropNex was listed on the Singapore Exchange S68 in July 2018. By then, it was already a very prominent household name, given that it was among the largest real estate agencies in town and that property buying and investing is a national obsession of sorts.

See also: PropNex soars, capturing greater market share amid challenging real estate climate

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As described by the company in its FY2023 annual report, it had over 12,000 salespersons in Singapore and over 15,000 across its other regional offices, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia.

With some 12,000 salespersons in Singapore, PropNex’s sales force is around a third larger than the closest peer’s. As indicated in the company’s annual report, it aims to increase this number to 15,000 by 2026.

A larger sales force could give PropNex even better reach, the potential to close more transactions, and the opportunity to increase its market share across the various industry segments that it wants to be in. For example, PropNex says it has leading market shares in private residential, in both new launches and resale, resale landed residential, and HDB resale. Besides real estate brokerage, PropNex is active in other related business activities such as real estate consultancy and training.

Centurion Corp, which specialises in operating dormitories for both workers and students across numerous markets, was named joint winner in the growth in profit after tax category. It manages 17 properties in Singapore and Malaysia for workers and 15 in the UK, US and Australia for students. In total, Centurion’s portfolio has a total of 66,495 “operational” beds across all these 32 properties, valued at a whopping $2.1 billion. The company was badly affected during the pandemic, but Centurion has sprung back rapidly as demand for such purpose-built accommodation recovers. The steady growth in its business has encouraged Centurion to expand into new markets, such as Hong Kong.

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Tosei Corp, a Japan-based real estate firm, is the joint winner with Centurion in the growth in profit after tax category. Listed on the Singapore Exchange since 2013, Tosei Corp, part of the property firm Tosei Group, is active in the following real estate sectors: revitalisation, development, rental, fund, property management and alternative investment, primarily in Japan.