Sunway Group president Tan Sri Chew Chee Kin.
PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd
remains positive on the prospects for the property development, healthcare and construction segments, as well as other businesses for the remainder of the year.
In a statement, Sunway Group president Tan Sri Chew Chee Kin said Malaysia’s robust economic growth in the first half of the year had significantly bolstered the group’s businesses.
“The healthcare segment continues to focus on increasing bed capacity at its three operating hospitals and the two new hospitals, targeting opening in the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025 respectively, to meet the growing demand for quality healthcare services from domestic patients and healthcare tourists.
“Healthcare tourism is anticipated to continue to increase progressively beyond 2024,” he said.
For the second quarter ended June 30, 2024, net profit rose to RM270.47mil from RM149.93mil in the previous corresponding period, boosted by strong operating performance across all business segments and a gain from the redemption of an investment.
Revenue grew to RM1.58bil from RM1.47bil a year earlier, attributed to better performance from most segments.
Basic earnings per share stood at 4.11 sen versus 2.54 sen previously.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Sunway said its property development segment’s revenue improved 2.7% to RM371.9mil compared with RM362.1mil in the same quarter in the previous year.
Pre-tax profit increased from RM49.1mil to RM70.1mil in the second quarter of 2024, representing an increase of 42.9%.
Sunway said the higher pre-tax profit was underpinned by higher progressive profit recognition from ongoing local development projects and one of the group’s private condominium projects in Singapore.
“The group’s executive condominium development, Parc Central Residences achieved its completion and handover in July 2024.
“The accumulated progressive profits related to the project of approximately RM123mil will be recognised in the third quarter of 2024.”
For the six-month period ended June 30, 2024, net profit grew to RM442.70mil from RM291.57mil in the previous corresponding period, while revenue improved to RM3bil from RM2.73bil previously.
The group declared a single-tier first interim cash dividend of two sen per share and a preferential dividend of 5.25% per annum (based on the issue price of RM1) per irredeemable convertible preference share in respect of the financial period from Jan 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024.”
Going forward, Chew said the prospects for the property market in the Southern region remains promising.
“The establishment of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, combined with robust infrastructure and enhanced connectivity between Singapore and Johor, namely the upcoming Rapid Transit System, augurs well for attracting foreign and domestic investments into Johor.
“The upcoming developments in Sunway City Iskandar Puteri (SCIP), including Sunway 103° Logistic Hub, Sunway Circuit, Puteri Hill, integrated healthcare facilities, tertiary education institution and Equalbase’s data centre will further complement SCIP’s vibrant ecosystem, elevating its appeal in attracting high-income professionals and global corporations looking to establish regional headquarters.”
Additionally, he said the strong flow of new contracts for the construction segment had been encouraging.
“The construction segment exceeded its initial order book replenishment target of between RM2.5bil and RM3bil, after securing RM3.5bil worth of orders up to August.
“We have revised the order book replenishment target to a higher level of between RM4bil and RM5bil for 2024,” he added.
