Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Sime Darby Property Bhd narrowed its net loss to RM55.93 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20), from RM355.26 million in 3QFY20, following a gradual recovery in its property development segment.

Revenue grew 19% to RM705.19 million from RM592.63 million, the group's Bursa Malaysia filing today showed.

The group's performance is comparably weaker than its year-ago quarter, when it made a net profit of RM102.96 million, due to losses in its property development, investment and asset management as well as leisure segments attributed to disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Revenue dropped 20.67% from RM888.93 million previously.

For the full FY20, the group sank into the red with a net loss of RM478.8 million from a net profit of RM598.53 million in FY19, as annual revenue fell 35.22% to RM2.06 billion from RM3.18 billion. All its three business segments mentioned above registered losses during the year due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its property development segment's revenue fell 35.9% to RM1.9 billion from RM3 billion in FY19. “A loss of RM355.4 million was recorded during the current financial year, which includes the group’s share of impairment loss from the Battersea Group amounting to RM337.1 million (£62.4 million),” it said.

Its investment and asset management segment saw revenue decline to RM69 million from RM88.4 million, due to a reduction in the supply of teaching equipment under a concession arrangement as the majority of the delivery was completed in prior years.

Meanwhile, its leisure segment registered a revenue of RM71.7 million versus RM90.6 million previously, as contribution from events and functions remains low following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Amid subdued sentiments, Sime Darby Property said it is cautiously optimistic of its prospects for landed residential and industrial property markets in 2021. “We view 2021 as the year of consolidation to further strengthen our foothold in the property market and to ensure the group is well-positioned to harness opportunities in this challenging environment," it said.

The group also said it is ready with an agile launch, which has a healthy mix of products comprising residential landed products in flagship townships — such as City of Elmina, Bandar Bukit Raja and Serenia City — as well as residential high-rise products in KLGCC. It will also continue leveraging digital solutions to invigorate online marketing and sales campaigns to replicate 2020's sales success.

“The group’s industrial & logistics development business as the new growth engine is synergistic to our property development business. The latest industrial project launched was Elmina Business Park in the City of Elmina, a holistic central hub for logistics and production. Phase 1 of the project, worth gross development value of RM1.26 billion, consists of various industrial products that will be launched in stages,” said Sime Darby Property.

“The group's resilience is also underpinned by RM1.58 billion of unbilled sales at Dec 31, 2020 and low net gearing of 0.28 times,” it added.

At the time of writing, shares of Sime Darby Property slipped 1.5 sen or 2.52% to 58 sen, valuing the group at RM3.94 billion.

Edited ByTan Choe Choe
      Print
      Text Size
      Share