PETALING JAYA: Paramount Corp Bhd’s second quarter net profit soared 70% to RM23.9mil from RM14.1mil a year earlier, on higher contribution from its property division and higher student enrolments at its KDU University College.
Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 rose 26% to RM145.3mil compared to RM115.3mil previously, the company told Bursa Malaysia in a filing yesterday. Paramount announced an interim single tier dividend of 2.5 sen for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).
Chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew said the second quarter results had improved significantly after a lacklustre first quarter performance due to the festive breaks and general market sentiment.
He said that the results were also boosted from realising gains on the sale of student accommodation apartments in Petaling Jaya, which were no longer required following KDU’s move to its new flagship campus at Paramount Utropolis in Glenmarie.
“Prospects for Paramount property are improving, especially in the area of commercial properties, where astute investors are looking to make long term strategic investments,” Chew said in a statement.
The planned launches for the group’s commercial developments are Sekitar26 Enterprise shop lots, Greenwoods Salak Perdana shop houses and Paramount Utropolis Batu Kawan shop lots.
“These will be complemented by the launch of several residential developments to maintain our business strategy of having an array of products at different price points and locations,” Chew said.
He said that Paramount property has been finalising for the rollout of its new development in Batu Kawan, Penang.
On Paramount education arm, Chew said that the business would continue to be intensely competitive, especially in the tertiary segment. “The muted economic environment has driven many private higher education providers to offer significant reductions in tuition fees by way of discounts and promotions,” he said.
He added that the primary and secondary segment would see more new schools opening, with more in the pipeline scheduled for 2016 to 2018.
Paramount property division posted a 39% jump in revenue in the second quarter to RM107.6mil from RM77.7mil a year ago, due to higher progressive billings recorded across all its developments and higher sales recorded by the Sejati Residences, Sekitar26 Business and Greenwoods Salak Perdana developments.
Meanwhile, its education sector’s revenue for the quarter was maintained at same level as last year at RM37.4mil, while profit before tax increased by 112% to RM13mil from RM6.1mil last a year ago due to gain from from sale of student apartments in Petaling Jaya.
For the first half of the year, Paramount’s net profit dropped 9.8% to RM33.6mil from RM37.2mil a year ago. Revenue for the period fell by 7.7% to RM258.6mil from RM280.58mil.
