EcoWorld International Bhd is expected to meet its sales target of RM2 billion for the fiscal year 2022 (FY 2022), having secured RM1.14 billion of the total in just seven months.
Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) Bhd said that the new property sales achieved to date accounts for 57 per cent of its sales target for FY 2022.
"Most of the sales were generated from its London City Island and Embassy Gardens projects. As at May 2022, it has RM391 million worth of bookings in hand," it said in a note.
EcoWorld International has a 'hold' call from Maybank IB and CGS-CIMB.
CGS-CIMB believes that the group's new property sales target for FY 2022 is also achievable, albeit at the expense of margins.
It said that the company is accelerating its cash recoupment by selling completed units with attractive incentive packages.
"There is no update on new build-to-rent projects at the moment, as the group is relooking at its viability, given the rise in construction costs," it said.
EcoWorld International posted a net loss of RM67.35 million for the second quarter ended April 30, 2022 (Q2 2022) from a net profit of RM11.30 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Its total sales plus reserves for the seven months ending May 31, 2022, were RM1.533 billion, a 52 per cent increase over the RM1.012 billion recorded during the same period in FY2021.
The group currently has 18 active and upcoming projects in the United Kingdom and Australia, totaling £4.7 billion and A$700 million in gross development value, respectively.
Datuk Teow Leong Seng, president and chief executive officer of EcoWorld International, said yesterday via a statement that the group has been focusing on the monetisation of completed stocks at its EW-Ballymore joint venture (JV) and Australian projects since the fourth quarter of 2021.
He said EW-Ballymore has about £400 million in completed properties that are easily monetisable given the portfolio's ongoing interest in all three projects.
Teow said that the asset monetisation will generate significant cash reserves, with a portion of the proceeds set aside for future growth.