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UEM Land Q4 profit up 43.3% to RM201.3m
KUALA LUMPUR, 21 February 2013 – UEM Land Holdings Berhad’s (“UEM Land”) net profit attributable to owners of the parent (“PATAMI”) rose 43.3% to RM201.3 million in the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2012 from RM140.5 million a year ago, driven mainly by higher margins achieved from the Group’s property development activities and higher contribution from the Group’s Horizon Hills joint venture project with Gamuda Berhad. Revenue for the quarter also increased 15.7% to RM691.7 million from RM597.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2011.
For FY2012, UEM Land’s revenue advanced 13.9% to RM1.94 billion from RM1.70 billion the previous year while PATAMI grew 48.6% to RM448.4 million from RM301.7 million. Total sales increased 9% to RM2.4 billion from RM2.2 billion in FY2011, with RM1.8 billion (73%) of sales contributed by its projects in Nusajaya, a key flagship zone of Iskandar Malaysia.
Dato’ Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim, Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of UEM Land said that the increase in PATAMI reflected UEM Land’s commitment to continuously improve operational efficiency and deliver better returns to shareholders. “Although revenue and sales only grew by 13.9% and 9% respectively, credit must really be given to all our project teams as they did a thorough review of each and every project which has resulted in an overall improvement in margins. This is primarily due to better product pricing and construction efficiencies with property prices in Nusajaya having now reached levels similar to those in the Klang Valley. In addition, our enlarged entity also enjoys economies of scale from better terms for our materials and services and a larger pool of technical expertise and all these factors contributed to an across the board margin improvement for our property development projects.”
Dato’ Wan also highlighted that UEM Land has delivered on its target to achieve the “Tipping Point” for Nusajaya in 2012. “2012 has seen the completion of numerous catalysts for Nusajaya – the highlights being the opening of LEGOLAND® Malaysia, the Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park and Marlborough College as well as an influx of new high profile investors. We are also delighted with the performance of Horizon Hills as our share of profit from this joint venture for 2012 was close to RM60 million, almost triple the 2011 contribution of RM19.7 million. Horizon Hills’ success and the fact that 73% of our sales in 2012 came from Nusajaya really illustrates that the “Tipping Point” for Nusajaya and Iskandar Malaysia has been achieved. We will continue to maintain our growth trajectory with the second growth phase which includes Gerbang Nusajaya as evidenced by the recent agreements signed with Ascendas for the Integrated Eco-Friendly Tech Park and Fastrack for the Motorsports City.”
UEM Land is also proposing a first and final single tier dividend of 3.0 sen per ordinary share of RM0.50 each for the financial year ended 31 December 2012.
Moving forward, Dato’ Wan said that UEM Land will strive to further improve performance in 2013 with new Headline KPI targets of 30% Revenue Growth, 20% PATAMI Growth and maintain the target ROE of 10%. “For 2013, we are targeting to achieve property sales of RM3 billion with 2/3 of this expected to come from Nusajaya. We have also planned new residential and commercial property launches with a total gross development value of around RM4 billion. This would include new phases in our ongoing projects such as East Ledang, Nusa Idaman and Nusa Bayu; new projects in our existing locations such as Verdi Eco-dominiums in Symphony Hills and MK22 in Mont Kiara; and projects in new locations such as in Bangi and Kajang.”