KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Eco World Development Group Bhd’s (EcoWorld) net profit surged to RM30.32 million for the first quarter ended January 31, 2019 (Q1 FY19), from RM9.77 million in the same period last year following a turnaround in the performance of its joint ventures.
The group’s share of results from its Malaysian and international joint ventures swung to a profit of RM24.02 million against a loss of RM3.0 million a year earlier, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
EcoWorld’s revenue, however, eased to RM491.23 million versus RM519.21 million previously.
The property developer said the developments in Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and Penang were the main projects which contributed to the group’s revenue and gross profit during the quarter.
On its 27 per-cent-owned international joint venture, EcoWorld International Bhd (EWI), the group said it continued to be profitable in the quarter under review following the start of the delivery of completed units at London City Island and Embassy Gardens in the fourth quarter of the 2018 financial year (FY18).
“This enabled the group to record RM6.1 million as its share of EWI’s profit in Q1 FY19, as compared to a share of loss of RM2.7 million in Q1 FY18,” it added.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the group said it had set a combined sales target of RM12 billion for EcoWorld and EWI, with the two companies aiming to hit RM6 billion sales each for the financial year ending Oct 31, 2019 (FY19) and FY20.
EcoWorld president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Chang Khim Wah said the company was confident to achieve the RM6 billion target, based on the highly positive response to the recent launch of its Home Ownership Programme (HOPE).
On the international front, EWI president and CEO Datuk Teow Leong Seng said while market conditions in both the United Kingdom and Australia remained challenging with Brexit and economic uncertainties weighing on individual house buyers’ sentiment, it had also opened up opportunities for the group to sell good-quality build-to-rent (BtR) residential properties on an en-bloc basis to institutional investors.
EWI said the BtR management was working to close the sales of those developments through forward-funding agreements with institutional investors within FY19 or FY20, which would contribute substantially towards EWI’s two-year sales target of RM6 billion. — Bernama
