Paramount records RM157mil in sales for Q1

An artist impression of Utropolis, Glenmarie, Shah Alam

SHAH ALAM:  Known as one of Malaysia's long-standing investment holding companies, Paramount Corp Bhd recorded RM157mil in sales from its property division for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.

"We are very much on track against our RM400mil target for financial year 2015," said group chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew after the company's 45th annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Chew said the group recorded stronger sales volume in the first three months of 2015 driven by concerns of the goods and services tax (GST).

With total unbilled sales at RM420mil, Chew said the group is currently building its sales organisation with an aim to push up sales.

Its current landbank size is 900 acres with gross domestic value (GDV) of RM9bil, mainly in the Klang Valley, Batu Kawan, Sungai Petani and Bukit Mertajam.

Chew said it is currently bidding for the Kwasa Land project.

While continuously looking for landbank remains its priority, Chew said it would be looking at projects abroad once it reaches a turnover of RM1bil. The group 's revenue as at Dec 31, 2014 was RM510mil.

"This will probably be in the next three to five years, depending on how fast we grow," he added.

On the education front, Chew said the market was more resilient.

"The market has been extremely competitive in the last few years and we think that market players could be looking at consolidation at the tertiary level.

"And education is recession proof, we may take advantage of this since we have the scale at the Utropolis campus," he said.