Mah Sing Group Bhd has surpassed its 2011 full year sales target of RM2 billion by achieving RM2.04 billion sales as at Nov 15, 2011.

The property developer also has very strong earnings visibility with unbilled sales of RM2.14 billion as at Sept 30, 2011.

"This is more than two times the revenue we recognised from property development for the whole financial year 2010," Group Managing Director/Group Chief Executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said in a statement today.

"We have met and exceeded market expectations on both sales and financial performance, and we shall continue to outperform market expectations by riding on our strong branding, good concepts and design as well as right products," he said.

For first nine months of 2011, the group recorded a 42 per cent increase in revenue to RM1.1 billion and a 47 per cent jump in net profit to RM127.5 million.

For the third quarter, its revenue rose 48 per cent to RM420.7 million while net profit grew 46 per cent to RM43.2 million.

Revenue and profit for the financial period are attributable to property development activities carried out in Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley, Penang Island and Johor Baharu.

The strong sales achieved and timely execution provide steady cashflow and liquidity to the group’s balance sheets which remain healthy with net gearing ratio at 0.38 times as at Sept 30, 2011.

"Our net gearing has gone up from 0.21 times as at June 30, 2011 as our construction works are moving full swing in tandem with our strong sales," Leong said.

With its cash pile of close to RM600 million and the management’s target to maintain an optimal gearing level of 0.5 times, the group has a healthy warchest which will allow it to continue acquiring prime land or joint ventures for its aggressive expansion strategy.

With 36 projects in its portfolio, the group's unbilled locked in sales and remaining gross development value (GDV) is estimated at more than RM15 billion which should last the group five to seven years.

As for next year, the group’s launch pipeline in 2012 will include several projects offering residential and commercial properties in the range of RM500,000 onwards.

This would include new phases in existing projects like Icon City (Petaling Jaya), M City (Jalan Ampang), and Garden Plaza (Cyberjaya) as well as new projects like M Sentral (Kuala Lumpur) and M Residence@Rawang.

"We have set a sales target of RM2.5 billion for 2012, and we are optimistic that we can continue our strong sales momentum as our products cater to market needs and are well sited in strategic locations," said Leong. — Bernama

SOURCE: Business Times