KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): I-Bhd, which saw its first-quarter net profit jump 50% year-on-year, expects to perform much better for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).

Its deputy chairman Datuk Eu Hong Chew said the expected better performance for FY16 would be attributable to the group's unbilled sales of RM690 million as at Dec 31, 2015.

"The unbilled sales at the start of the year is more than three times the 2015 revenue generated from property development segment, thus providing a good base for the growth in revenue and profit for this year. On top of that, we have had a very positive response to the recently launched Hyde phase of i-City (in Shah Alam, Selangor), thus ensuring the revenue pipeline for 2017 is equally strong," he said in a statement today.

Eu added that the property development revenue, which grew eight-fold since 2012 to RM200 million in 2015, is expected to hit its target revenue of RM500 million per year by 2018.

I-Bhd's net profit rose to RM15.36 million or 1.45 sen a share in the three months ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16) from RM10.24 million or 0.96 sen a share a year ago, on higher contribution from its property development and leisure segments.

Revenue rose 6.8% to RM80.45 million in 1QFY16 from RM75.35 million in 1QFY15.

"This is a good start for 2016 as historically our best performing quarter is at the end of the year. We expect to see continued increase in profits every quarter," said Eu.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, I-Bhd expects both the property development and leisure segments to continue to contribute positively to the group's performance in the current financial year.

The group's unbilled sales has grown to RM743 million as at March 31 from RM552.5 million a year ago.

"The board expects that the unbilled sales will continue to grow as seen from the encouraging sales of the group's on-going projects and the recent launch of the Hyde Tower (in i-City).

"By the end of the year, the group is expecting to complete and handover i-SOHO project to the purchasers, thereby translating at least one-third of the existing unbilled sales to the group's revenue solely by this project.

"As the construction progresses, the board expects the existing as well as the continuous build-up of sales commitment to translate to higher revenue to the group in the future," it added.

At 3.33pm, I-Bhd shares were up two sen or 4% to 52 sen, with 1.4 million shares traded. Its market capitalisation was RM496 million.