Pruksa to make provincial, low-rise shift
SET-listed developer Pruksa Holdings Plc (PSH) is set to focus more on low-rise development and launch projects in the provinces to boost presales and revenue growth to 13% and 10%, respectively, by year-end.
Supattra Paopiamsap, deputy group chief executive, said the company has just restructured one of its subsidiaries, Pruksa Real Estate, by promoting Theeradej Kerdsamang, a managing director for Townhouse 1, to be the new chief executive of the business unit from Feb 1.
“Now that we have one more CEO to take care of townhouse development, we can focus on our core business and maintain market share,” she said.
Mr Theeradej initially joined Pruksa Real Estate as a project engineer.
Earlier the division was supervised by Piya Prayong, chief executive for value business or all residential products in the lower- to middle-end segment. Since Feb 1, Mr Piya has handled single-house units in every price range, condos in the lower- to middle-end segment, precast construction and land acquisition.
Prasert Taedullayasatit, chief executive for premium business, supervises only condominiums in the high-end segment.
“We aim to maintain our townhouse market share, which was 13% last year, in a market valued at 78 billion baht, as townhouse business accounted for 45% of our portfolio,” she said.
Pruksa will also seek to tap the low-rise market in key provinces where demand is strong, including Chiang Mai, Phuket and three eastern provinces in the Eastern Economic Corridor — Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.
Pruska reported yesterday 47.5 billion baht in presales, up 7.2% from 2016, yet below its target of 50.5 billion, which had been reduced in the third quarter of 2017 from 52.9 billion.
The company attributed sluggish sentiment among homebuyers that quarter — usually the high season for the housing market — on the mourning period.
Of the total presales, 21.8 billion baht was from townhouses, down 6.3%. The company posted 7.7 billion baht from lower- to middle-priced single houses, a decrease of 20.2%.
In 2017, lower-priced condominium sales grew 5.8% year-on-year to 9.98 billion baht, while sales of upper-end condos quadrupled to 8.1 billion.
The company had a net profit of 5.45 billion baht on revenue of 43.9 billion, down 8.1% and 6.1%, respectively.
Pruska aims for 50.5 billion baht in revenue and 53.7 billion in presales by the end of this year.
PSH shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 23.60 baht, a decrease of 10 satang, in trade worth 53.8 million baht.