KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 27): Property developer Tropicana Corp Bhd saw its net profit rise 24% to RM29.5 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, from RM23.7 million in the previous year.

However, revenue fell 2.8% to RM353.1 million, from RM363.4 million in the year before; while earnings per share was also lower at 2.12 sen, compared to 2.20 sen in the previous year’s same quarter.

“The better financial performance was attributed to higher revenue recognition across key projects within the Greater Kuala Lumpur, such as Tropicana Gardens in Kota Damansara, Tropicana Heights in Kajang and Tropicana Metropark in Subang Jaya, as well as Tropicana Danga Bay in the Iskandar region in Johor,” said the company in a press release.

Meanwhile, a gain on disposal of land amounting to RM3.7 million during the quarter, had also supported the rise in earnings.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, net profit climbed 20% to RM126.8 million, from RM105.9 million a year earlier; while revenue fell 2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM1.01 billion, from RM1.03 billion.

Looking ahead, Tropicana said it will continue to launch new projects through its existing land bank, despite the soft property market after the introduction of cooling measures by the government.

The group currently has a land bank of approximately 1,800 acres, with potential gross development value of RM50 billion.

“The near term focus of the group will be to unlock the value of its land bank in Greater Kuala Lumpur where potential GDV is in excess of RM24.5 billion, as well in those in the Northern Region with potential GDV of RM9.5 billion,” said Tropicana.

The counter was unchanged at RM1.23, with market value of RM1.69 billion.