Shah Alam: Eco World Development Group Berhad (“EcoWorld Bhd”) announced today that Group sales had strongly exceeded its initial FY2014 target of RM2 billion (set on a combined basis with projects launched under Eco World Development Sdn Bhd (“EW Sdn Bhd”).

As at 31 October 2014, (a period of 13 months due to the change in financial year end from 30 September to 31 October) cumulative sales achieved totalled RM3.186 billion.

RM3.02 billion was contributed by projects launched under EW Sdn Bhd, namely EcoSky, EcoMajestic, EcoBotanic, EcoSpring and Eco Business Park 1. The development rights to all these projects are being acquired by EcoWorld Bhd pursuant to a corporate exercise announced in April this year. The Group will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting to seek the approval of its shareholders for this exercise on 12 December next month.

President & CEO of EcoWorld Dato’ Chang Khim Wah said 2014 has been a fantastic year for the Group with all its launches well taken up. In May this year, EcoWorld held a simultaneous launch of three residential developments which were EcoMajestic in the Klang Valley, EcoSpring and EcoSummer in Iskandar Malaysia. It also previewed its first business park called Eco Business Park 1 in the Tebrau Corridor. All four projects were extremely well received with EcoMajestic seeing take up rates of 95% on the launch day while EcoSpring and EcoSummer saw close to 80% take-up.

Since then, EcoMajestic has gone on to launch several other phases with continued success. To date the project which is located in the fast-growing Semenyih corridor has sold RM753 million in total, comprising terraced units, semidees and bungalow land.

The flagship township development for EcoWorld in the Klang Valley, EcoMajestic is slated to unveil its all new sales gallery and show units on site by the end of November. “We are extremely excited about the opening of the show village as well as our 30,000 sq ft sales gallery. The team has put in great effort to ensure that what we have been marketing so far in our sales brochures is becoming a stunning visual and physical reality. We look forward to welcoming our purchasers to the EcoMajestic show village to see for themselves what has been created on site,” shared Chang.

The developer is currently busy with infrastructure works leading into EcoMajestic as well. The red carpet bridge, which provides access into the northern portion of the development is almost completed and works have commenced on the EcoMajestic Interchange to increase connectivity via direct access to the LEKAS Highway at the south-western boundary.

In Iskandar Malaysia, the launch of EcoSpring and EcoSummer’s show village in September saw over 3,000 visitors with the day ending on a high note with a dazzling two-minute fireworks display. Both projects have been well received with the units almost selling out at every launch. Currently, EcoWorld has five active projects in Iskandar Malaysia which have all performed exceedingly well. Sales from the Group’s projects in Iskandar Malaysia alone totalled RM1.836 billion.

Chang said the Group has focused on townships and business parks which have easy access to major highways and are located near to population centres equipped with public amenities such as schools, shopping malls and hospitals.

“We have set a high benchmark for our developments by making sure there is value creation in the form of amenities, infrastructure and design. We want our buyers to appreciate the value as well as the lifestyle each project offers and it is important they share the journey of enhancement together with us,” he added.

For the 12 months ended 30 September 2014, the Group recorded a revenue and profit before tax of RM112.4 million and RM9.3 million, respectively.

The Group’s financial performance in FY2014 has been constrained by the completion of Saujana Glenmarie and the inability to launch new properties at Kota Masai while awaiting approval of the revised master plan by the authorities. The situation is unlikely to change materially in the month of October 2014, which is the 13th month of the current 13-month financial reporting period.

Going forward into FY2015 however, the Group’s prospects are highly positive based on the strong sales achieved by EW Sdn Bhd in FY2014. The benefits of these sales will flow to the Group upon completion of the acquisition of the development rights by EcoWorld Bhd, which is targeted to take place by the first quarter of calendar year 2015.