PETALING JAYA: Sime Darby Property Bhd (SimeProp) is anticipating to close the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21) on a stronger note as it sees good earnings visibility ahead.

       “Properties continue to be in good demand. Our unbilled sales – and this is what we look at – stands at RM1.8bil and this has increased by 11% compared to where we were last year,” group managing director Datuk Azmir Merican (pic) said at the group’s second-quarter (Q2) financial briefing yesterday.

       “We are looking at a more resilient financial position in FY21 as you know that our financial position has improved significantly from last year and since the pandemic is still around, we have to build our operations or expectations around this. We are looking at coming out of this year much stronger than we were last year,” Azmir added.

       He said that SimeProp’s balance sheet remained strong and revenue visibility was better than it was in the year before.

       “Our bookings and planned launches are also better than they were last year. So, these three markers tell us that we are improving compared to last year,” he said.

       For Q2 ended June 30, SimeProp returned to the black with a net profit of RM19.9mil compared to a net loss of RM93mil in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue also saw a strong corresponding rise of 74.5% to RM502.8mil from RM288.2mil in the same corresponding quarter a year ago.

       Basic earnings per share for the quarter rose to 0.3 sen from -1.4 sen previously.

       Sime Darby Property HQ

       It has declared an interim dividend of one sen which will be paid out on Nov 16 with an ex-date on Oct 28.

       The group said in the notes to its financial statements that the property development segment registered a significant improvement in performance with a profit of RM190.6mil compared to a loss of RM85.0mil in the previous corresponding period.

       Profit for this segment was driven mainly by the higher sales and development activities in the City of Elmina, Elmina Business Park, Serenia City, Bukit Jelutong, Bandar Ainsdale, Nilai Impian, The Glades and Senada projects, coupled with higher sales of completed stock in KL East and Serini.

       “The current year’s performance was further enhanced with profit from the intercompany sale of land in Bandar Bukit Raja of RM31.2mil to the investment and asset management segment for the development of industrial and logistics projects,” SimeProp said.

       Azmir said that the group remained bullish on the demand for industrial properties moving forward and would like this part of the business to grow further.

       “Our plan is to really grow this segment as we move along. We are quite bullish here due to demand shifting to e-commerce,” he said.

       “We have an exciting plan (for industrial) which we will be announcing very soon. We need to be more aggressive here, and need to look at launching more products because of demand. We also need to get the right expertise into the organisation to do that,” Azmir added.

       The company noted that it would like to diversify its income further through the industrial landed and lots product segment, which now comprised 17.8% of its sales portfolio.

       “This is coupled with our focus to launch projects at strategic locations with the right price points, unlock value through active land bank management, as well as exercise vigilant cost control for the remainder of the year,” Azmir said.