Guocoland Q3 earnings rise 29%

The domestic property sector remains challenging, said Guocoland.

PETALING JAYA: Guocoland (M) Bhd will continue to focus on monetising its inventories and progressing its development projects for timely completion.

“New product launches will be phased according to prevailing market conditions. The group remains alert to seek out opportunities to increase its landbank,” the property arm of Hong Leong Group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Guocoland said the economy remained on a growth path in 2023 after the surge in activities seen in the previous year from the post-pandemic recovery.

“However, the domestic property sector remains challenging in an environment of higher interest rates, persistent inflation reducing the purchasing power and an overhang of excess property inventory in several market centres and property classes,” it said.

For its third quarter ended March 31, 2023, Guocoland’s net profit jumped 29.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM8.7mil or an earnings per share (EPS) of 1.30 sen due to higher profits from associates and joint ventures, as well as better gross profit margins following the finalisation of the development cost of various projects.

Revenue, however, fell 7.4% y-o-y to RM112.4mil due to reduced revenue from its property development division.

For the nine months to March 31, Guocoland posted a 649% y-o-y rise in net profit to RM18.8mil or an EPS of 2.81 sen while revenue rose 11% y-o-y to RM296.1mil.