S P Setia acting president & CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said S P Setia’s foray into the Australian market has borne well for the Group amidst the current challenging property market.

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer S P Setia Bhd’s earnings surged 153% to RM261.78mil in the third quarter ended July 31, 2015 from RM103.32mil a year ago as it recorded its best ever revenue due to its Australian venture.

It said on Thursday its revenue increased 81.2% to RM1.634bil from RM902.66mil. Earnings per share were 10.18 sen compared with 4.12 sen.

S P Setia said the strong performance was underpinned by increased revenue and profit recognition from the development of its strong sales pipeline achieved to date and the timely staged handovers of its Fulton Lane project in Australia, which has been accounted for based on the completion method.

The group handed over the second and final residential tower of Fulton Lane during the current quarter.

“The group’s current quarter revenue stands at RM1.63bil and profit before tax is at RM406.3mil, which is RM4.6mil and RM61.6mil higher than the preceding quarter ended April 30, 2015 respectively,” it said.

For the nine months ended July 31, 2015, its revenue increased by 115% to RM590.30mil from RM274.36mil. Its revenue rose 62.6% to RM4.191bil from RM2.576bil.

“With unbilled sales of RM9.9bil, the board is confident that the group will continue to perform well in the remaining financial year,” it said.

S P Setia acting president & CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said S P Setia’s foray into the Australian market has borne well for the Group amidst the current challenging property market.

“Fulton Lane’s timely handover has helped the Group to register strong revenue and profit recognition while the S P Setia Brand has begun to register with the Australian market as evident in our two sold out projects in Melbourne.

“We will continue to seek new ventures in the land Down Under to further expand our portfolios overseas,” he said.

Khor added that the handing over of S P Setia’s maiden project in Singapore, 18 Woodsville, was currently in progressive hand over stages. It obtained the temporary occupation permit (TOP) two months ahead of schedule.

As for the second project, Eco Sanctuary, the topping out would be in September and was on track for completion.

Khor said: “2015 has been not been an easy year for Malaysian developers given the volatility of the market, cooling measures imposed by the government and increasingly cautious financing environment adopted by banks.

“However, we remain positive that by adapting our product launches to meet the demand for mid-priced range and affordable homes within our own matured townships creates value for purchasers.”

S P Setia’s strategy to launch mid-priced range products for FY2015 continues to be fruitful.

Launches of such products in Setia Alam received very high response if not sold out status within the first few days of the said launches.

This has prompted the company to prepare for more launches of its terrace and semi-detached homes this month and it expects to receive similar responses.