EcoWorld Malaysia said its commercial products contributed RM341mil to total year-to-date sales.
PETALING JAYA: EcoWorld Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld Malaysia) has made property sales of RM2.4bil in the first seven months of its financial year 2023 (FY23), accounting for 68.5% of its target.
Sales were driven by demand for the group’s products such as Eco Business Parks (EBP), which saw sales reaching RM838mil over the seven-month period – 111.3% of FY22 full-year EBP sales of RM753mil.
Sales of residential homes exceeded RM1.22bil as at end-May, representing 51% of total year-to-date sales achieved.
The largest contributors continue to be homes priced above RM650,000, a testament to the sustained demand for the group’s higher-end products.
EcoWorld Malaysia said its commercial products contributed RM341mil to total year-to-date sales.
This was driven by good take-ups for new launches and continuing sales of various retail, shop and office units at its matured Klang Valley and Iskandar Malaysia townships.
“The largest contributors in the first half of FY23 have been higher-priced upgrader homes with very good take-ups observed for all our new launches in the Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and Penang that were tailored to appeal to this segment,” president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah said in a statement.
The strong sales has driven the property developer’s future revenue to RM4.29bil as at May 31, thus providing clear earnings and cash flow visibility.
For its second quarter ended April 30, 2023 (2Q23), EcoWorld Malaysia’s net profit rose 37% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM62.69mil, or earnings per share of 2.13 sen, helped by contributions from its joint ventures.
Despite revenue for the period falling 17% y-o-y to RM420.82mil, the group has declared a two sen interim dividend for the quarter, payable on July 20, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
EcoWorld Malaysia said its local joint ventures contributed profit of RM24.1mil in 2Q23, which was 47.4% higher than in the same quarter last year.
Meanwhile, EcoWorld International Bhd contributed RM300,000 in profit in 2Q23 compared with a loss of RM15.6mil in 2Q22 due to higher foreign exchange gain, improved interest income following repayments from its UK joint ventures and lower finance costs during the quarter.
Moving forward, Chang said the group will be launching several of its duduk brand of apartments to meet the needs of first-time homeowners and those seeking to own homes at a more attainable price point.
“Registrations for upcoming launches of other new duduk apartments planned for the rest of 2023 have been very encouraging.
“We look forward to bringing this very popular product to customers at our other matured townships in the Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and Penang,” he added.
As at April 30, 2023, EcoWorld Malaysia’s gross and net gearing levels stood at 0.53 and 0.31 times, respectively.
