KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Property Bhd
's strong sales momentum since the start of the year is a key indicator of earnings potential towards the end of the financial year, says group managing director Datuk Azmir Merican.
For the final quarter of the year, the property developer is anticipating further launches across residential and industrial segments alongside the return of high-rise residential products in Putra Heights, Selangor, and Taman Melawati in Kuala Lumpur.
“We are encouraged by our strong performance for the year-to-date despite the macro headwinds and market challenges.
"Our residential launches achieved encouraging demands including Serenia City’s ‘Serenia Anira 3’ with 80% take-up, while the semi-detached and detached factories in Elmina Business Park achieved 100% take-ups showing our capability in catering to the needs of businesses of any scale with solutions ranging from ready-built factories to customisable built-to-lease industrial properties,” said Azmir in a statement.
Year-to-date, the group has achieved sales of RM2.7bil, exceeding the FY22 sales target of RM2.6bil.
In the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022, the group posted a net profit of RM56.13mil, as compared with a net loss of RM5.19mil in the previous corresponding quarter.
Earnings per share came to 0.8 sen compared with a loss per share of 0.1 sen in the comparative quarter.
The group reported revenue of RM689.3mil, 77.93% higher than RM387.38mil in the same quarter last year.
On a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis, the group's revenue was up 12% due to improvements in the property development segment, which registered higher revenue of 13% to RM640.6mil on the back of steady progress in its land bank management and monetisation plan.
Accordingly, the group said gross profit increased 8% q-o-q to RM207.5mil on further support from the sustained operational performance from the investment and asset management and leisure segments.
Over the nine months to Sept 30, 2022, Sime Darby Property recorded a net profit of RM212.69mil on the back of RM1.79bil in revenue, which compared with a net profit of RM84.13mil and revenue of RM1.48bil in the same period in 2021.
Azmir added that the group has launched products amounting to RM2.1bil in gross development value (GDV) year-to-date, comprising a diversified residential and industrial product mix of 44% and 54% of total GDV with an average take-up rate of 90%.
The group's remaining bookings amounted to RM2.1bil as at Nov 6, 2022, while total completed inventories fell to a new low of RM273.4mil at at Sept 30, 2022.
Unbilled sales increased 5.4% q-o-q to RM3.5bil as at Sept 30, 2022, representing a 70% increase from the same period last year.
As at Sept 30, 2022, the group sat on a cash position of RM876.2mil and net gearing ratio of 28.2%.
