IGB’s to focus on hotels, properties

KUALA LUMPUR: IGB Corp Bhd plans to focus more on its hotel and property investment divisions to drive its growth and expansion as both businesses offer better gains, says group managing director Robert Tan Chung Meng.


Location is the most important thing to be considered before any decision is made. ROBERT TAN

“Our offices under the property investment division provide strong recurring income to the group and the hotel’s expansion and acquisitions are much easier as less hassle is involved,” he told reporters yesterday after the company’s AGM.

Tan said the group was aggressively looking to build hotels and acquire existing hotels locally and in countries such as China, Japan and Indochina.

“We are reviewing proposals for that matter but, for us, location is the most important thing to be considered before any decision is made,” he said, adding that the group’s latest hotel, located in Manila called St Giles Hotel, would be fully operational by the third quarter this year.


Location is the most important thing to be considered before any decision is made. ROBERT TAN
Tan said new property launches would depend on the market conditions. He also said The Mid Valley City phase 3 that was put on hold in 2009 had been re-planned as a commercial development.

“We plan to build an office and retail building there with a gross development value of about RM500mil. We hope the relevant approvals will be obtained by end of this year.”

Meanwhile, IGB had posted a slightly higher net profit of RM35.3mil for its first quarter ended March 31, compared with RM33.9mil in the previous corresponding period due to improved performance by the other divisions.

It told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that revenue for the period was lower at RM156.1mil versus RM165.6mil previously due to lower contributions from the property development division while earnings per share for the period were 2.42 sen against 2.31 sen before.

By The Star