Good show: (from left) Wong, Khor and CFO Choy Kah Yew showing their satisfaction with the company’s second quarter results for financial year 2017.
PETALING JAYA: Having already secured sales of RM2.07bil for the first six months of this year, SP Setia Bhd is confident of meeting its sales target of RM4bil for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2017 with launches totalling a gross development value (GDV) of RM2.94bil scheduled for the remaining six months.
President/chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen said local projects contributed RM1.08bil, or 51.9% of total sales, while international projects contributed RM996.5mil, or 48.1%.
Moving forward into the second half, Khor said the property developer would focus more on the local market, with emphasis being given to mid-range landed property in the Klang Valley.
“The strategy is to launch more of the landed property in the group’s flagship townships, where the underlying demand for such properties by owner-occupiers is still strong,” said Khor.
SP Setia posted a net profit of RM136.32mil in the second quarter ended June 30, an increase of 8.3% from a year ago. Revenue, however, dipped to RM794.71mil from RM1.013bil.
Earnings per share was at 4.78 sen compared with 4.79 sen before. It has declared a dividend of four sen a share, similar to a year ago.
On a half-yearly basis, it reported a net profit of RM241.50mil compared with RM249.17mil in the previous corresponding period.
Revenue was lower at RM1.73bil compared with RM1.92bil a year ago.
The property developer, among the largest in the country, is particularly pleased with recently launched project Sapphire By The Gardens in Melbourne.
Khor said the residential block with 345 units of apartments and a GDV of A$376mil saw a strong take-up rate of 70% during the June launch weekend despite reports that the Australian property market may have peaked.
Khor said:“The Australian market is no different from the local (Malaysian market). It is location-centric, so despite the general slow market, we saw good take-up rates.”
As for reports about cost overruns for its Battersea Power Station project in Britain, deputy president and chief operating officer Datuk Wong Tuck Wai said the increase in overruns was due to design, inflation and other factors, but this is being remedied by changing its “procurement strategy” and moving into a “management contract” strategy for phases two and three.
“We have also gone on to value engineering, which will see substantial savings,” said Wong.
Both SP Setia and Sime Darby Bhd hold an equal 40% stake, while the Employees Provident Fund owns the remainder stake.
It will complete delivery of phase one’s 800-odd units by September. Phase 2’s budget was £750mil originally but has risen to more than £1.15bil, it was reported.
As for the proposed acquisition of I&P Group Sdn Bhd, this should be completed by the end of this year.
