UEM Sunrise heads hunts for new CEO

PETALING JAYA (Feb 26, 2014): UEM Sunrise Bhd is on the lookout for a new managing director (MD) and CEO following the resignation of Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim effective yesterday.
The company said it has formed a committee to initiate the process to identify and recruit a new MD/CEO.
"In the interim, Datuk Izzaddin Idris will continue his role as executive director to perform the duties and functions of the MD/CEO," it told Bursa Malaysia yesterday. Izzadin, the Group MD and CEO of UEM Group Bhd, took on the role on Dec 3, 2013 after the company announced that Wan Abdullah has taken a leave of absence due to medical reasons.
"The board wishes to record its appreciation and thanks to Wan Abdullah for his services and immense contributions to the company during his tenure as the MD/CEO," it added.
Meanwhile, in a separate filing, UEM Sunrise announced that it had outperformed its financial headline KPI in 2013 by achieving a profit after tax and minority interest (PATAMI) growth of 29% compared to 20% as targeted while meeting its return on equity (ROE) target of 10%.
It said that the higher margins achieved came from land sale transactions along with higher contribution from various joint ventures in took part in, namely from the Horizon Hills joint venture project with Gamuda Bhd.
However, revenue growth fell short at 26% in FY2013, from its the 30% revenue growth target set due to lower than expected contribution from the Group's property development.
For FY14, the Group new headline KPI targets includes revenue growth of 25%, PATAMI and ROE growth of 10% respectively.
Going forward, the group was optimistic that its performance for 2014 will surpass that of 2013, despite the current challenging property market.
The group's performance would be supported by its developments in Nusajaya, sale of units in Residensi 22, Mont' Kiara, and the launching of Serene Heights in Bangi and Sinaran Hills in Kajang, it said.
"The group is confident that these products will be well-received," said UEM, adding that its on-going projects have a total unrecognised revenue of RM3.4 billion as at Dec 31, 2013.
UEM Sunrise net profit for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013 fell 61% to RM78 million compared to a net profit of RM201.3 million previously.
Revenue for the quarter declined 16% to RM573.1 million from RM682.6 million in the same quarter last year.
For the 12 months period, net profit improved at RM579.1 million compared to RM448.4 million in 2012, while revenue increased to RM2.43 billion from RM1.92 billion.