KUALA LUMPUR: Eco World Development Group Bhd’s shares rose after it reported quarterly earnings that met expectations.

       The developer advanced 3.03%, or two sen to 68 sen with 1.53 million shares done.

       Eco World’s net profit surged 172% to RM42.32mil in the second quarter ended April 30, 2021 from RM15.55mil in the same quarter last year.

       Revenue for the quarter rose 22% to RM420.46mil from RM345.4mil a year earlier.

       It announced an interim single-tier dividend of two sen per share, payable on July 23.

       For the six months ended April 30, its net profit doubled to RM104.76mil from RM52.05mil last year while revenue rose 5% to RM927.81mil from RM883.35mil previously.

       CGS-CIMB Research said Eco World’s 1HFY10/21 core net profit came in within expectations, at 53% of the house and 48% of Bloomberg consensus full-year forecasts.

       “1HFY10/21 core net profit was in line, supported by higher contribution from joint ventures, lower administrative expenses and lower finance costs.

       “1HFY21 new property sales came in higher at RM2bil, accounting for circa 70% of its FY21 new sales target of RM2.875bil,” it said.

       The research house has maintained its ‘hold’ call on Eco World with an unchanged target price of 66 sen based on FY22F P/BV of 0.4x.

       Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank Research has upgraded Eco World to "buy" on share price weakness despite lowering its earnings expectation for the year.

       “Eco World’s 2QFY10/21 net profit of RM42mil was in line. Its 7MFY21 locked-in property sales of RM2.53bil were however above expectation,” it said, adding that management was confident to exceed its FY21 sales target of RM2.9bil.

       The research house slashed earnings projections for FY21-23 by 7.1% to 7.8% due to lower contribution from Eco World International and the full lockdown in June 2021 dragging on group earnings.