PETALING JAYA: Property developer I-Bhd should see earnings picking up, underpinned by its RM550mil unbilled sales and forthcoming launches, according to PublicInvest Research.

I-Bhd, the master developer of the 72-acre i-City in Shah Alam, posted a 68.9% year-on-year jump in net profit to RM10.3mil for its first quarter ended March 31, 2015.

The research house said property development featured strongly in its net profit growth although it was weighed slightly by pre-opening hotel expenses and seasonality factor in its leisure division.

With a remaining gross development value (GDV) of over RM8bil encompassing more than 10 residential and commercial tower blocks, it said the group could achieve its vision of RM500mil to RM600mil revenue annually in three years.

PublicInvest Research also said I-Bhd’s property investment division would eventually be a healthy cash cow, with the integral part being the RM763.9mil Central Plaza @ i-City.

A model of the Best Western hotel and other components of I-Bhd’s project.

It said this was a first-of-its-kind regional shopping mall in the country jointly-developed with the Central Pattana Group, Thailand’s largest retail developer.

It also said the opening of new attractions at the Leisure Park contributed to the growing revenue base of the leisure activities segment, together with the opening of the three-star Best Western Hotel.

PublicInvest Research has a “outperform” call on I-Bhd’s stock, and a 12-month target price of 92 sen.

The research unit said its target price was a conservative price-earnings of 10 times to reflect the current small-cap nature of the company.

“This is at a significant discount to its three-year earnings compound annual growth rate of over 50%, translating to a price/earnings to growth ratio of only 0.2 times.”

“The recent under-performance of its share price is unwarranted in our view, and we see this period of weakness as an opportunity for accumulation.”

On Friday, I-Bhd’s stock closed half a sen lower to 60 sen.