BY S. PUSPADEVI

PETALING JAYA: Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd saw a 8.9% jump in net profit to RM91.89mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 from RM84.40mil in the same quarter a year ago.

This was achieved on the back of a lower revenue of almost 5% at RM732.37mil from RM770.74mil, a year ago. Earnings per share (EPS) increased to 3.05 sen from 2.74 sen.

With cash and bank balances amounting to about RM727.9mil and net gearing ratio of 0.09 times, the group said it achieved higher operating profit for property development in the nine months ended Sept 30, 2016.

“This is 11.35% higher compared with RM330.4mil in the corresponding period last year, mainly due to lower contribution from M City in Jalan Ampang and Icon City in Petaling Jaya that were at tail end of development during the current financial period,” Mah Sing said in its filings via the exchange.

For the cummulative nine months, Mah Sing’s net profit was RM275.75mil from RM273.79mil in the corresponding period, a year ago, on the back of a lower revenue of RM2.22bil from RM2.33bil. EPS was 9.92 sen from 11.02 sen.

In a separate statement, Mah Sing’s group managing director Tan Sri Datuk Leong Hoy Kum said the group was continuously looking for potential land acquisitions, joint ventures and investment with fair degree of diligence, mainly in Kuala Lumpur, a main focus for the group at this juncture.

During the quarter, it paid RM156.6mil dividend for the financial year 2015, marking a minimum 40% annual dividend payout record.

Due to the challenging market conditions, Mah Sing revised its 2016 full year sales target from RM2.3bil to RM1.8bil.

It achieved cumulative property sales of about RM1.4bil or 77.8% of the sales target.

“We launched more projects in the third quarter, clocking up sales of about RM632.1mil. We have diligently launched properties at the right prices in prime locations, targeting the correct market segment, that is, the mass market. There was keen buyer interest for our recent launches,” said Leong.

While bookings remained high, formalising the sale with the signing of the sales and purchase agreement was, however, protracted.

“We are, therefore, taking a pragmatic view and revising our full year sales target.” he added.

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