Petaling Jaya, 25 November 2022: For the third quarter ended 30 September 2022, Paramount Corporation Berhad (Paramount) group’s profit before tax (PBT) surged to RM41.9 million from the RM6.4 million recorded in the same period in 2021. Its profit attributable to ordinary equity holders for 3Q2022 shot up by 102 times to RM27.2 million from a low base of RM267,000 recorded in 3Q2022.
Revenue for 3Q2022 more than doubled to RM231.7 million from the RM84.8 million recorded in 3Q2021.
“The strong performance was due to the higher level of operating activities at the property division as well as the net gain from the asset monetisation exercises that took place in 3Q, i.e the sale of the tertiary education campus in Damansara Jaya and the divestment of the remaining 20% equity in the pre-tertiary education business,” said Paramount Group CEO Jeffrey Chew.
For the cumulative nine months ended 2022, the Group achieved a PBT of RM72.1 million (9M2021: RM27.4 million) on the back of a revenue of RM602.2 million (9M2021: RM364.0 million), which were 163% and 65% higher than those of the same period last year. Hence, the Group’s profit attributable to ordinary equity holders for 9M2022 has surged to RM41.3 million, close to 10 times that of RM4.2 million posted for 9M2021.
Chew said he was pleased that the group’s financial performance for the first nine months of 2022 has surpassed that of the full year in 2021.
“Moving into the fourth quarter, the Group remains in a resilient position to deliver a year of solid growth focusing largely on enhancing the Group’s productivity amid an inflationary environment,” he said.
“Sales momentum in the third quarter remained strong. For the first nine months of 2022, sales of RM691 million was recorded, an increase of 95% (9M2021: RM354 million) while unbilled sales of RM1.3 billion was a new milestone achieved.”
“Leveraging on the strong sales momentum, we are on track to launch RM1.2 billion of properties this year. To-date, we have successfully launched close to RM1.1 billion, anchored by The Atera in Petaling Jaya (a transit-oriented mix development situated next to the Asia Jaya Light Rail Transit Station), Arinna Kemuning Utama (low-density smart home in Kemuning Utama, Shah Alam) and Sejati Lakeside 2 landed homes in Cyberjaya,” he said.
In respect of the non-core assets monetisation strategy involving the two sale transactions of 3Q2022, RM180 million cash will be raised of which RM85 million will be used to pare down borrowings while RM74.6 million has been earmarked as special dividend for shareholders.
Property Division
The property division posted a 3Q2022 PBT of RM31.3 million, which was significantly higher than the RM7.1 million recorded at the same period in 2021, on the back of higher revenue and revision of project costings.
With higher level of construction activities on a larger base of ongoing projects, the property division’s 3Q2022 revenue soared to RM225.1 million from a low base of RM83.1 million that was caused by the pandemic. The top three revenue contributors were Utropolis Batu Kawan development in Penang, Sejati Lakeside development in Selangor and Bukit Banyan development in Kedah.
For 9M2022, the property division recorded a PBT of RM70.3 million, 64% higher than the RM42.9 million of 9M2021. Its revenue of RM586.0 million was 64% higher than that of the same period in 2021 of RM357.9 million.
Coworking Division
The division is expected to achieve profitability in the near term, with loss before tax narrowing to RM159,000 in 3Q2022, and to RM483,000 for 9M2022. The improvements can be largely attributed to the higher contributions from the Tropicana Gardens outlet and Scalable Malaysia, a one-stop customised-workspace solutions provider.
