Sunway to add RM2b to construction orderbook

PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd aims to add RM1.5 billion to RM2 billion to its RM2.8 bilion outstanding construction order book by year-end, said its CFO Chong Chang Choong.
"We are still working on a few prospects but we are confident before end of the year we should be able to increase our order book between RM1.5 billion and RM2 billion extra," he told reporters at its AGM yesterday.
"As our annual run rate for our construction business segment average about RM1.8 billion to RM2 billion per year, an order book of RM4 billion will sustain a run rate of two years," he said.
The group's construction arm, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, is enroute for a re-listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. The prospectus will be launched on Monday and listing is expected by end July.
On its property segment, Chong said its unbilled sales stood at RM2.5 billion and the total gross development value of its ongoing projects is RM5.7 billion as of Dec 31, 2014.
"Our first quarter (ended March 31, 2015) sales was about RM240 million. We target to register sales of close to RM1.7 billion this year," he said.
He said it aims to replenish its current land bank of some 3,800 acres of land. "Given the current market consolidation in the property sector, it is a good opportunity for us to look at landbanking opportunities because when the market is a bit softer, the land owners' expectations of land prices would not be as high," he said.
Chong said overall, the group remains cautiously optimistic on its prospects for the year and expects to deliver satisfactory financial results for 2015.
"For group perspective, we always strive to register growth of at least 5% to 10% every year. Over the last five years, we've outperformed the target set by the group.
"If you track our profit diligently over the last two years we've registered compounded growth of more than 20% for 2013 and 2014," he said.
"Because of the higher base, going forward to sustain this high double digit growth given the current economic condition I think it will be challenging but of course we will still try to do our best," he added.
The group it is still undergoing due diligence of the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO) for its trading and manufacturing division in the future.