Paramount aims for RM1bil sales

PARAMOUNT Corp Bhd is targeting property sales of RM1bil this year, driven by new launches and unbilled sales amounting to RM611mil as of end-2017.

For the financial year ending December 31, 2017 (FY17), Paramount garnered sales of RM816mil, representing a near two-fold increase from 2016’s sales of RM420mil.

Paramount group chief executive officer and director Jeffrey Chew Sun Teong ( pic) tells StarBizWeek that the group has been able to outperform on its property sales due to the positioning of its products.

“While people talk about the soft property market last year, we instead believe that the market softened, then recovered.

“We took the opportunity to quickly launch the right products at the right point of time to capture those sales.

“With our multiple projects spread across Selangor and northern Sungai Petani and Batu Kawan, we believe our locations are quite a good representation of the Malaysian property market. If you have a good product with the right features that suit the buyer, people will make purchases,” he says. Last year, Paramount sold 1,287 units. As of March 31, 2018, Paramount has unbilled sales of an estimated RM740mil, which will be billed over a period of three years averagely.

Chew elaborates that it is vital to position the products that suit buyers’ needs, coupled with the right marketing strategy and sales delivery. “We used to work on two projects at a time, but we now have seven to eight projects running simultaneously, offering different sizes and types to cater to homeowners’ needs.

“This creates a spectrum of products for our customers, at various locations and affordability prices.

“Most of our products are priced below RM800,000 per unit, with bulk of it priced within the range of RM400,000 to RM600,000 – that’s the sweet spot where it’s more affordable,” he says.

Paramount has planned new launches with a combined gross development value (GDV) of RM1.2bil in 2018, with a focus on affordably priced products.

One of the phases of the Atwater project in Section 13 was launched in February and features senior-friendly living concept where the residential units are built to with ample walkway spaces for wheelchair access, switches that are positioned lower, as well as larger rooms and bathrooms equipped with a seat in the shower area.

Two commercial blocks in Atwater will be launched at year-end.

Paramount shall also launch a 33.3-acre integrated development Berkeley Uptown in Klang at year-end or early-2019, to be anchored by a new Sri KDU International School campus.

Interestingly, Paramount also has expansion plans for co-working spaces, which offers the group an alternative recurring rental income and supports the take up of space in commercial properties.

Paramount ventured into the co-working space a year ago, with Co-Labs in Shah Alam.

“Co-working space is a new and growing demand of office space.

“We will look at other potential locations to set up more co-working spaces -- preferably using our own properties situated in central locations.

“Our upcoming second co-working space shall be located in Starling Mall, Damansara Uptown, to be opened this July,” says Chew, adding that it will take two to three years and an occupancy rate of 80% for a co-working space to breakeven.

As for Paramount’s education arm, the group will focus on enhancing its tertiary offerings to build competitive advantage.

Paramount has three flagship schools in KDU University College (KDU UC), namely, School of Computing & Creative Media, School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, as well as School of Business.

Its School of Computing & Creative Media has been selected to spearhead Pemandu’s new Entry Point Project Game Development Cluster and is exploring a partnership with renowned Kadokawa Content Academy of Japan, which is Japan’s fourth largest publishing house, to build KDU UC’s content creation expertise.