BY S. PUSPADEVI

Khor: ‘We are bullish on Australia, followed by London and we might look at Singapore as we think the Government will relook the tightening measures

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer SP Setia Bhd is targeting multiple launches with a potential gross development value (GDV) of RM5.41bil and has set a RM4bil sales target for current financial year.

President and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen expected more than three-quarters of the sales to come from local projects.

“We expect to see a rise in overseas sales of 20% for 2017, from 8% last year.

“We are bullish on Australia, followed by London and we might look at Singapore, as we think the government will relook the tightening measures,” Khor told a briefing on SP Setia’s performance for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).

The property developer’s unbilled sales totalled RM8.25bil, while the company booked in a healthy performance with total sales of RM3.82bil for FY16, surpassing the revised sales target of RM3.5bil.

It posted a net profit of RM808mil on the back of a revenue of RM4.96bil in FY16.

There were no comparative figures since the company had changed its financial year-end from Oct 31 to Dec 31.

The property developer has declared a dividend of 20 sen per share, representing a payout ratio of 70.5% of profit attributable to shareholders.

For this year, Khor said more mid-priced landed properties and affordable homes would be launched.

These mid-priced landed properties consist of terraced units ranging from RM600,000 to RM800,000, he noted, adding that demand for property in the Klang Valley was still strong, while in Johor, it was seeing a rising demand for double-storey landed homes.

He noted that any delay in property launches would depend on market conditions.

“Those that we delayed last year would be brought forward to this year.

“Unless the market situation changes, we might bring them forward,” he said, expecting the property market to improve towards the second half of 2017.

Meanwhile, interest among buyers in the multi-billion-ringgit Battersea Power Station, London project has renewed compared with just after the vote by Britain to exit the European Union.

Khor also said the company would continue to replenish landbank in the Klang Valley and Johor Baru, apart from Australia.

SP Setia closed unchanged at RM3.39 yesterday with a market capitalisation of RM9.7bil.

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