‘Outperform’ call on I-Bhd reaffirmed
PETALING JAYA: I-Bhd is in a good position to benefit from the urbanisation of the outer Klang Valley region, namely Klang and Shah Alam, despite challenges in the property market.
Public Investment Bank (PIVB) Research said that the property developer’s value proposition is attractive and noted that its pace of sales this year has matched last year’s and showing no discernible slowdowns. This is a testament to the market segment it serves which is still seeing demand, the research house added. “With only about 15% of its gross development value (GDV) crystallised, I-Bhd’s story is only just unfolding.
“Our outperform call is reaffirmed, while we raise our target price to 91 sen (from 73 sen previously), as we narrow our discount to RNAV, from 60% previously to 50%, with the company continuing to deliver consistently. We see scope for upgrades in the future,” it said in a report.
Slated for launch in 2017 is part of the “Central Towers” development, comprising an office tower and residential suite towers above the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel which it has dubbed “Converse @ i-City” given its integration of Internet of Things functionalities.
On this, the research house said it viewed the company’s recent partnership with Huawei Technologies positively as it works toward being at the forefront of incorporating technological advancements into its product offerings, which is looking increasingly to be the next wave in property development.
I-Bhd reported another set of strong quarterly numbers, underpinned by growing contributions from its property development segment, which remains on track to achieving its medium term goal of generating a steadystate revenue of RM500mil per year.
Third quarter (Q3 FY16) net profit grew 159.3% y-o-y to RM22.4mil, contributing to a cumulative nine months net profit growth of 91.6% y-o-y to RM52.4mil.
“Although only making up 61.6% of our full-year estimates, we deem the results broadly in line as we anticipate stronger recognition in the final quarter to bring numbers in-line,” the research house noted.