KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Crescendo Corp Bhd’s net profit plunged 90.4% to RM3.3 million or 1.43 sen per share in the fourth financial quarter ended Jan 31, 2016 (4QFY16), from RM34.4 million or 15.12 sen per share a year earlier, due to lower property sales.
Aside from lower property sales this year, the group said it had recorded a realised gain from the transfer of property development to investment properties, amounting to RM23.3 million; and a gain from fair value adjustment on investment properties, amounting to RM7.4 million in the previous year.
Stripping out those gains, its profit before tax (PBT) for 4QFY16 was 54% lower at RM7.6 million, as compared to RM16.5 million, it noted. Revenue for the quarter also weakened 18.8% to RM61.4 million, from RM75.6 million.
The weaker performance notwithstanding, it is recommending a three sen final dividend, payable on Aug 29.
Meanwhile, its annual FY16 net profit came in 85.1% lower at RM17.8 million or 7.81 sen per share, from RM119.7 million or 52.29 sen per share in FY15, due to the same reasons; while revenue slipped 27.6% to RM194.6 million, from RM268.9 million in FY15.
Going forward, Crescendo expects the market condition to remain uncertain in the near term, in view of the various cooling measures implemented by the government, including tighter credit control by banks, the effects of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation, and a weaker ringgit.
Nevertheless, Crescendo said it has well positioned itself to face these challenges, as its ongoing projects which are located strategically in the Economic Zone within Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, offer a wide spectrum of products.
It also updated that its Bandar Cemerlang project which was launched in November 2015 has been well taken-up, with 60% of the 179 units of landed residential development having been taken.
"We expect more than 90% of the launched units to be sold within the next few months," it added.
As at Jan 31, Crescendo has an unbilled sales and committed sales of RM78 million. It expects its performance to remain satisfactory for FY17.
Shares in Crescendo were not traded today. It last closed at RM1.73, valuing it at RM479.59 million.