KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): Land & General Bhd, which is considering an asset injection by its ultimate controlling shareholder Malaysia Land Properties Sdn Bhd (Mayland), has declared a special interim single tier dividend of two sen for the financial year ending March 31, 2017 (FY17).

The entitlement and payment dates will be announced at a later date, L&G said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

The cash-rich developer has proposed to take over five property firms from Mayland for RM344 million cash. The acquisitions would inject new property development projects and land bank into L&G — a move that is expected to cultivate earnings in the long term.

L&G is making a cash call to raise up to RM402 million to fund the purchases, instead of tapping into its large cash coffers of RM471 million.

For its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2016, the group’s net profit grew 172% to RM15.9 million or 1.42 sen per share from RM5.8 million or 0.54 sen per share a year earlier on higher fair value gain on investment related costs in Vietnam Industrial Investments Ltd.

Revenue plunged 81.6% to RM7.2 million from RM39.2 million

Net profit for the cumulative nine months dipped 9% to RM36.4 million from RM40.1 million in the same period of FY16. Revenue fell 78% to RM34.8 million from RM157.9 million.

L&G’s  share price closed unchanged today at 32 sen, valuing the group at RM358.7 million.