Eco World Development's Q2 profit up 2.3%, Eco World International set to turnaround in H2

PETALING JAYA: Eco World Development Group Bhd's net profit grew 2.3% to RM34.45 million for the second quarter ended April 30, 2018 compared with RM33.68 million in the previous corresponding period, due to the commencement of profit recognition from its several projects, including Eco Grandeur, Eco Ardence and Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC).
Its revenue, however declined 25.6% to RM498.69 million from RM670.02 million.
Eco World's six-month net profit fell 60.9% to RM58.54 million from RM149.85 million, on the back of a 15.9% drop in revenue to RM1.06 billion from RM1.26 billion.
The property developer told Bursa Malaysia that for the first half of the year, it registered sales of RM923 million.
Eco World CEO Datuk Chang Khim Wah said the group will strive to achieve its sales target of RM3.5 billion from the Malaysian projects for FY18. Its unbilled sales stood at RM5.9 billion as at April 30, 2018.
Meanwhile, Eco World International Bhd (EWI) saw a widened net loss of RM29.08 million for the second quarter ended April 30, 2018 versus RM24.82 million in the same period a year ago, due to an unrealised foreign exchange losses. Full-year net loss also expanded to RM45.28 million from RM30.88 million.
There was no revenue recorded in Q2 2018 and the revenue for Q2 2017 arose from fees for marketing services rendered by a subsidiary to the group’s joint venture in respect of property sales of its projects in the UK.
EWI is expected to turn profitable in the second half of 2018 when its London City Island and Embassy Gardens projects are completed and handed over, commencing from Q3 2018.
It registered RM698 million in sales in the first seven months of FY18, with unbilled sales growing to RM6.1 billion as at May 31, 2018.
At the midday break, Eco World's share price slipped 1 sen or 0.8% to RM1.23, while EWI was down 2 sen or 2.2% to 90 sen.