WEST MALAYSIA PROPERTY NEWS
S P Setia To Be Selective With Launches In 2015
P
roperty giant S P Setia
Bhd will be selective in
launching new projects
this year as buyers take a
cautious approach.
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Backed by a massive unbilled sales
of RM11.1 billion, S P Setia will
look towards delivering properties
sold in the past and launch more
mid-ranged products, said acting
president and chief executive officer
Datuk Khor Chap Jen.
“We will be selectively launching
projects with product types that will
fare well in 2015. These launches
will be focused in areas with
established infrastructures and
amenities. The demand for property
is still very strong as proven by our
recent almost sold-out launches of
Caffra and Serrata,” said Khor in an
e-mail interview with StarBiz.
The launch saw 100% and 95%
take-up rate of Caffra and Serrata
on the first day of launch.
“For S P Setia, our focus
for this year is on delivery.
With a total unbilled sales
of RM11.1 billion as of
October 31 2014, we are
kept busy this year in
ensuring we deliver our
products according to the
standard that is expected
of the brand. Fulton Lane
in Melbourne and 18
Woodsville in Singapore
will be completed by mid2015, two months and four
months ahead of schedule
respectively,” said Khor.
The large amount of S P Setia’s
unbilled sales is expected to
deliver fundamental support
to the company’s financial
performance and share price,
108
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Perspective of Battersea project in London by S P Setia
which over the past few months
has been trending upwards.
PNB is the major shareholder of S P
Setia as well as Sime Darby.
Analysts said talk of a takeover of
S P Setia in a corporate exercise
involving Sime Darby Bhd has
seen a wave a buying for the stock,
which in recent years has been
underperforming its peers in the
property index.
Analysts said news of the corporate
exercise was lifting the shares of
S P Setia but noted that a wave of
buying calls were made after the
launch of the second phase of the
Battersea project in London.
Buying of S P Setia’s stock
underpinned by the corporate
exercise recently lifted its shares
to close to an 18-month high. Its
shares have dipped a little since
then but are up about 26% over
the past one year compared with
the Bursa Malaysia Property Index,
which is 5.25% higher over the
same period.
Shares of S P Setia hit a recent
high of RM3.64 on January 20 after
a report that the property arm of
Sime Darby was in the midst of
taking over S P Setia.
The report said the proposal
was mooted by a few senior
management of S P Setia about a
couple of months ago and conveyed
to the top brass of Permodalan
Nasional Bhd (PNB) and Sime Darby.
“People are also waiting to
see what they are going to do
regarding the management of S P
Setia,” said an analyst.
There have been a number of
changes at the top management of
S P Setia after founder and former
president and CEO Tan Sri Liew Kee
Sin left the group. Khor assumed his
current position starting this yea