UEM Sunrise net profit down 85% in Q3 on lower revenue

PETALING JAYA: UEM Sunrise Bhd’s net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, plunged 85.13% to RM21.17 million from RM142.9 million in the same quarter last year, due to lower revenue.

Revenue for the quarter under review declined by 50.83% to RM430.1 million from RM846.1 million registered in the same quarter in the preceding year.

“We are finally reaping the benefits of our maiden venture in Australia with the completion of Aurora Melbourne Central’s first separable portion valued at A$86.8 million (RM262.8 million). Totalling 21 floors starting from level 10, we have completed 127 residences and 10 office suites. On Sept 10, we delivered and received settlement for 120 residences and four office suites; a strong settlement rate of 92% against the total number of units completed, translating into an amount of RM195.6 million as seen in our latest results,” the group’s managing director Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said in a statement.

“We hope to complete another 70 units valued at A$28.4 million before year-end. The remaining separable portions will be delivered in 2019. Conservatory with total GDV of A$319 million, the first separable portion is expected to commence settlement in December while full settlement is anticipated to complete by 2019”, he added.

Anwar added that the group is on track towards hitting its sales target of RM1.2 billion considering as it has already achieved RM900.5 million in sales as at end of September.

“We are also pleased to point out that 30% came from inventories much of which is contributed by the company’s inventory monetisation efforts the latest being the 50 years of community building campaign, aptly called “C50”, which to date has generated sales plus bookings totalling RM262.3 million, while 23% were from new project launches – Kondominium Kiara Kasih and Serimbun. The remaining 47% was from our other ongoing projects” he said.

UEM Sunrise’s unbilled sales remain healthy at RM4.7 billion.

Asset divestment still remains as one of the group’s key strategies, after having recognised sales of three separate land parcels in Iskandar Puteri namely to Country View Bhd, RA Suria Sdn Bhd and Landasan Kejora Sdn Bhd.

Several parcels of non-strategic assets have also been earmarked for divestment amounting to RM349 million.

For the cumulative period of nine months, the group reported a 66.33% increase in net profit of RM260.25 million against RM156.5 million last year.

Revenue for the period under review, showed a decrease of 17.08% to RM1.3 billion from RM1.6 billion as most projects are at early stages of their development compared to the same period last year.