IJM Land hopes to match 2012 performance

BY DANIEL KHOO
DANIELKHOO@THESTAR.COM.MY

Soam said the company had a ‘very high level’ of unbilled sales at the moment of around RM1.9bil to RM2.0bil that is expected to underpin its earnings for the next two to three years. - SHAHRUL FAZRY ISMAIL/THE STAR Filepic

   

Email

Facebook 0

PETALING JAYA: IJM Land Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Soam Heng Choonis hoping that the property developer would be able to match last year’s sales figure of RM2bil or beat it this year, depending on global economic conditions.

“In the first three months of the year, we have done in excess of RM500mil (in sales). Thus, we are on target but barring any unforeseen circumstances, as things look volatile and seem to be changing very fast,” Soam said at the company’s AGM yesterday.

Soam said the company had a ‘very high level’ of unbilled sales at the moment of around RM1.9bil to RM2.0bil that is expected to underpin its earnings for the next two to three years. In the first four months of its financial year 2014 (FY14) to end-July, IJM Land said it had launched RM1bil worth of property out of the RM3bil of property launches expected this year.

“Questions that have been posed to us of late revolve around the concerns in Asia especially. For us, we are ready to go to the market with most of our launches, but are also cautious as to what is out there,” Soam said.

“But locally in Malaysia, mortgage rates remain stable and the economy is still growing this year despite the slight change in forecasts. Property is also still a good hedge against inflation,” he added.

For the remaining part of its financial year, the company is expected to launch RM300mil of property in Penang, RM1.25bil in the Klang Valley and Seremban, RM300mil in the southern region and RM150mil in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The major projects would be Rimbayu Phase 3, Seri Riana Phase 2 in Wangsa Maju, and Seremban too. In the Klang Valley itself, we have five projects ongoing,” Soam said.

The property development arm of IJM Corporation Bhd, along with its parent company and plantations arm, will announce its first-quarter financial results for FY14 to end-June, 2013, later today, which Soam said would likely be “commendable”.

On another note, IJM Land is also slated to launch its build-and-sell Royal Mint Gardens residential apartments in the United Kingdom in September with a potential gross development value of £200mil (RM1.03bil). The project is a 51:49 IJM-led joint venture with another private UK-based company.

The company is also constructing RM500mil worth of office suites in Changchun, the capital of the Jilin Province in Northern China, in a build-and-sell concept expected to be completed in April next year. - The Star