KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Sunrise Bhd
is forging ahead with its turnaround plan, which involves the offloading of inventories, non-strategic lands and non-core assets while improving retail income and occupancy.
“Notwithstanding the progress we have made, there’s a lot more to be done and we are confident that we will achieve our goal of moving into the next phase of our transformation journey”, said CEO Sufian Abdullah in remarks accompanying its third-quarter results announcement.
In the quarter under review, UEM Sunrise recorded a net profit of RM8.34mil, a slide from RM20.35mil in the preceding year corresponding quarter.
The group's earnings per share fell to 0.17 sen from 0.4 sen in the preceding year corresponding quarter.
Meanwhile, the group's revenue also contracted to RM312.35mil from RM355.76mil in the preceding year corresponding quarter.
For the nine-month period to Sept 30, 2023, UEM Sunrise's net profit was RM48.39mil, down from RM60.07mil while revenue was RM917.09mil from RM1.14bil in 9MFY22.
According to Sufian, the company's inventories fell from RM203mil at the end of the last financial year to RM136mil as at Sept 30, 2023.
He said the gross and net gearing of 0.62x and 0.46x respectively remained moderate with cash balances of RM1.1bil as at Sept 30, 2023.
The company's unbilled sales of RM2.7bil will be substantially recognised in the next 18 to 48 months, he said.
As at Sept 30, 2023, UEM Sunrise recorded property sales of about RM1.8bil, exceeding its 2023 target.
About 41% of the sales contribution was attributed to the central region and 10% from the southern region, while the remaining contribution was from international projects with the sale of the Collingwood development in Melbourne, Australia, amounting to A$277.3mil (RM873.7mil).
Over the coming quarters, UEM Sunrise plans to reactivate more of its remaining land in Johor.
"Our intention is to activate more Southern land banks for development, especially with the renewed interest in Johor.
"We have plans to launch more residential projects in Gerbang Nusajaya and new phases within the Estuari, Puteri Harbour, to name a few. A new 100-acre mixed development called Puteri Harbour Avenue will also see its first launch in 2024," said Sufian.
Moving forward, with the upcoming developments and land activations in FY24, he said UEM Sunrise is certain to remain financially sound and will be on a firmer footing.
