Gamuda Land eyeing overseas revenue by launching more products

PETALING JAYA: Gamuda Land, the property arm of Gamuda Bhd, expects sales contribution from its foreign developments to account for 40% of revenue from next year.

Chief operating officer Ngan Chee Meng said the company intended to launch more products overseas as part of its aim to diversify earnings, given the subdued property market in Malaysia.

“We’re looking at more non-ringgit revenue in the longer term,” he said at a media preview of the company’s maiden Australian project in Melbourne – 661 Chapel St, here yesterday.

Ngan said earnings from overseas should account for 35% of total revenue this year. Apart from Australia, the company has projects in Vietnam and Singapore.

“The Vietnam market is starting to generate income and we’re looking at more contributions from there,” said Ngan.

“Going forward, we would like to maintain that 40:60 earnings ratio, with the bulk of our earnings coming from our Malaysian operations,” he added.

On the local front, Ngan said the company had ongoing projects worth some RM55bil that would sustain the company over the next 15 to 20 years.

“This year we’ll be launching a project in Rawang. Next year we have two launches lined up.”

On the company’s Australian development Ngan said he expected the project to be fully taken up within the next two years.

About 30% of the units had already been sold to Malaysian buyers, Ngan said, adding that Gamuda Land expected to launch the units by the third quarter of this year.

The 661 Chapel St project is located 4km from the Melbourne central business district and has a gross development value of A$154mil (RM462mil).

The development is a 30-storey tower comprising 142 luxury apartments. The units start from A$571,000 (RM1.71mil).

Ngan said he was optimistic about the company’s Australian foray, saying that he was “not too concerned” about the country’s stringent lending policies.

“We’re targeting a lot of high-end buyers. A lot of them are well-off and loans are not really an issue for them.”

Meanwhile, Gamuda Land marketing and sales manager Dede Pong said 661 Chapel St was strategically located and should generate buyer interest, despite Melbourne being oversupplied with high-rise buildings.

“The market is saturated more in the central business district of Melbourne. Our project is 4km away, so we are not too concerned.”

Ngan also said investors were moving away from the US and Europe and looking to places such as East Asia to grow their money.