Mah Sing plans to up its game in the second half of 2016, indicating its optimism that the slowing property market will soon witness some improvements.
Group managing director and chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum revealed that the company will launch something new every month for the remainder of 2016. Sitting on a cash pile of RM1.1 billion with a near-negligible net gearing of 0.09 times, Mah Sing eyes to aggressively promote its products.
Leong expects sentiments to improve in 2017. As such, Mah Sing is already “setting the plan in motion” to catch the market once it turns.
The company pegged this year’s sales target at RM2.3 billion. Notably, it has around RM2 billion worth of projects to be launched for the rest of 2016. To meet this year’s target, the company will continue to sell some of the products it launched in 2015.
At the moment, Mah Sing has scheduled to launch the final tower of its Lakeville Residence this month. This latest tower will feature 327 units with built-up ranging between 977 sf and 1,359 sf.
This development consists residential and commercial components and is expected to be completed by 2020. The previously launched Tower A and B are fully sold, meanwhile, Tower D, E and F have a 90% take-up rate.
Mah Sing’s target will be ramped up to between RM3 billion and RM4 billion once the market improves. During a downturn, Leong said it was important to plan and launch products which were in line with what is wanted by the market.
Leong underscored that this is the reason why Mah Sing eyes to work with the government – both state and federal, and build affordable houses for the mass market. The government is looking for good partners and developers with a proven track record and delivery.
“A tie-up with the government, which have a lot of lands will benefit both parties.”
Currently, the company is on the lookout for land in the Klang Valley, Greater KL, Seberang Prai and Iskandar Malaysia and is not planning on venturing outside the country. It has 46 projects under its belt, of which 36 are in various stages of development. Mah Sing has 22 projects in the Klang Valley, four in Penang, two in Sabah and seven in Johor.
The company’s 2,522ha of landbank is enough to keep it busy for the next eight years. Mah Sing’s remaining gross development value (GDV) and unbilled sales for Q1 ended 31 March 2016 stood at around RM32.26 billion. During the quarter, the company saw its net profit fall 3.9% to RM95.04 million, while revenue dropped 9.5% to RM709.17 million from the previous year.
Images: Sourced from The Star
Mangalesri Chandrasekaran, Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email mangales@propertyguru.com.my
