S P Setia Q3 earnings up 10% to RM100.4m, 9-month sales RM2.85b

KUALA LUMPUR: S P Setia Bhd's earnings rose 10% to RM100.4mil in the third quarter ended July 31, 2012 from RM91.24mil a year ago, boosted by higher margin due to the continuous value-creation for its property projects.

It said on Thursday the group achieved third quarter sales of RM1.045bil, bringing cumulative nine-month sales to RM2.855bil and remained upbeat for the remaining financial year.

"This represents an increase of 34% over the RM2.137bil achieved in the same period of the previous financial year," it said.

As at Aug 31, 2012, it said the group's sales for the first 10 months of the financial year totalled RM3.312bil, exceeding the group's full year sales for the financial year 2011.

For the third quarter, S P Setia's profit before taxation was 26% higher at RM145.61mil compared with RM115.81mil. Revenue increased by 12.1% to RM654.19mil from RM583.47mil. Earnings per share were 5.21 sen compared with 5.15 sen.

On the performance of the property segment in the third quarter, it said the increase in revenue was mainly due to higher revenue recognition from residential and commercial properties in the Klang Valley, Johor Bahru and Penang as a result of increased level of overall group sales achieved since FY2010.

Profit before taxation registered a higher percentage mainly due to the increase in the margin from 19% to 23% arising from group's success in steadily increasing the selling prices for its products through continuous value-creation.

Ongoing projects which contributed to the profit and revenue included Setia Alam and Setia Eco-Park at Shah Alam, Setia Walk at Pusat Bandar Puchong, Setia Sky Residences at Jalan Tun Razak.

Other projects were Bukit Indah, Setia Indah, Setia Tropika, Setia Eco Cascadia and Setia Eco Gardens in Johor Bahru and Setia Pearl Island, Setia Vista and Setia Greens in Penang.

However, its construction segment recorded lower revenue and profit before taxation, down by 53% and 78% respectively.

S P Setia said the completion of the Kementerian Dalam Negeri contract in Setia Tropika, Johor Bahru in the previous financial year has contributed to the current quarter decrease.

In the nine-months end July 31, the group's earnings increased 8.6% to RM266.79mil from RM245.50mil in the previous corresponding period. Revenue recorded a 10.2% rise to RM1.763bil from RM1.599bil.

By The Star