KUALA LUMPUR: Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld Malaysia) reported a 5.1% growth in revenue to RM533mil for its first quarter ended Jan 31, while gross profit increased 13.2% year-on-year to RM114mil from higher sales and realisation of cost savings on completed and near-completed phases.
In a statement yesterday, EcoWorld Malaysia said profit after tax in the first quarter stood at RM63.4mil.
“Excluding the results of EcoWorld International (EWI), the group’s profit after tax from its Malaysian operations grew by 60% to RM64.9mil in the first quarter of 2022, compared with RM40.6mil in the first quarter of 2021.”
Additionally, it said net gearing reduced from 0.44 times as at Oct 31, 2021 to 0.40 times as at Jan 31.
“This gives the group ample space to consider landbank expansion for future growth,” it said.
Separately, EcoWorld Malaysia said it recorded RM1.276bil sales from Nov 1, 2021 to Feb 28, which was 40.1% higher than the RM911mil recorded in the four months of its previous financial year.
“EWI’s sales and reservations for the four months up to Feb 28, 2022 stands at RM1.077bil,” it said.
Commenting on the group’s performance, EcoWorld Malaysia president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah said EcoWorld Malaysia’s performance in the first four months of its current financial year has been encouraging.
“Sales in all three geographic regions grew strongly as compared to the same time last year, with the highest percentage of increases recorded by our projects in Iskandar Malaysia (up 194%), followed by Penang (up 110%).“Our Klang Valley projects also did very well with RM709mil achieved. This represents 56% of total group sales up to Feb 28, 2022,” he said.
Based on the sales progress, Chang said EcoWorld Malaysia is optimistic that it is on track to achieve its 2022 sales target of RM3.5bil.
“The group’s focus on enhancing value and improving profitability by introducing products with higher margins is also progressing well, as demonstrated by the positive response to its latest launches of higher-end residential products.”
Notwithstanding the very good start EcoWorld Malaysia has had in its current financial year, Chang acknowledged that there are still market challenges to be overcome, including inflation caused by rising material and oil prices and the potential interest rate hikes.
“EcoWorld Malaysia is certainly not spared from the impact of rising construction costs recently highlighted by the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association. However, as a group, we are relatively well-positioned given the maturity of our landbank, with the bulk of our primary infrastructure already completed in prior years.”
Chang said the group’s efforts to reinvent its business model to be more nimble, agile and efficient would help EcoWorld Malaysia in containing costs.