PETALING JAYA: SP Setia Bhd’s net profit surged 67.1% to RM108.93 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019 from RM65.19 million in the same quarter a year ago, attributed to a foreign exchange gain from its property development activities.
Revenue for the period fell 6.1% to RM932.07 million from RM993 million previously.
According to the group’s Bursa filing, its property development business realised a foreign exchange gain of RM37.8 million from the translation pound sterling denominated loan facilities which contributed to a higher profit for the quarter.
For the cumulative nine-month period, SP Setia reported a net profit of RM300.48 million, a 47.2% decline from RM569.41 million achieved in the same period last year, while revenue rose 21.7% to RM3.13 billion from RM2.57 billion.
Over the same period, the group secured sales of RM3.07 billion, whereby local projects contributed RM2.6 billion or 85% of the total sales.
“Amid the challenging landscape of a subdued property market, the strategy is to launch more mid-range landed properties in the group’s flagship townships where the underlying demands by owner-occupiers are still favourable,” said its president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen in a press release.
SP Setia is planning to launch properties with a gross domestic value (GDV) of RM2.17 billion in the remaining months of 2019, which will bring its total launches for the year to RM4.88 billion.
The group said it remains positive and will work towards achieving a sales target of RM4.55 billion driven by the versatility of the planned launches and the encouraging response to the Home Ownership Campaign.
“Anchored by 46 ongoing projects with 8,984 acres of effective land banks remaining and potential GDV of RM143.82 billion, prospects going forward remain positive with total unbilled sales of RM10.52 billion as at September 30, 2019.”
At 3.15pm, SP Setia’s share price was trading 1 sen lower at RM1.34 on 7.03 million shares done.
