KUALA LUMPUR: Eco World International Bhd (EcoWorld International) achieved sales of RM685mil in the first quarter ended Jan 31, 2022, 68% higher than the sales recorded in the same period a year ago.

       The developer also has a strong reservation pipeline of RM393mil - total sales including reserves as at Feb 28 adds up to a total of RM1.077bil.

       It said Embassy Gardens and London City Island were the biggest contributors to sales, generating

       RM240mil and RM229mil sales respectively based on contracts exchanged.

       “EcoWorld International had a good start to FY22 as the attractive incentive packages being offered to customers led to a resurgence in buying interest, particularly for our London City Island and Embassy Gardens projects.

       “Local demand in Australia has also been recovering steadily which contributed to the RM685mil sales secured in the first four months of this financial year,” president and CEO Datuk Teow Leong Seng said in the statement.

       In the first quarter to Jan 31, 2022, EcoWorld International posted a net loss of RM14.66mil on revenue of RM49.24mil.

       The gross and net gearing levels of the group remain low at 0.29 times and 0.21 times respectively as borrowings have been significantly pared down following the completion of major projects in London, Sydney and Melbourne, it said.

       Teow said its projects in Australia are fully completed and its major projects in London under the EcoWorld-Ballymore joint venture are very close to achieving full completion.

       “The impact of an inflationary environment could therefore favour us as our selling prices stand to benefit from rising property prices while our costs on the completed and near-completed projects are largely shielded from inflationary pressure,” he said.

       “We do however acknowledge the uncertain market environment caused by rising geopolitical tensions – against such a backdrop the strategic decision we made at the end of 2021 to accelerate cash recoupment via the sale of our completed units, remains very sound,” Teow said.

       He added that it continued to see good interest from investors, both institutional and retail, for its projects in both the UK and Australia.

       “This includes several large offers which we are currently assessing. Should we decide to proceed with these offers, our plans to repatriate the capital which we have invested in our completed projects could be accelerated,” he said.

       Teow said that it remained the Board’s intention to sell the remaining units in the EcoWorld-Ballymore and Australian projects in the next two to three years with a key goal of making further distributions to shareholders after setting aside a portion of the capital recouped from these completed projects to be reinvested for future growth.