Mah Sing Group Bhd’s property arm, which has five ongoing projects in the Klang Valley and Johor targeting the mid to high-end market, is aiming for sales growth of 20% for the financial year ending Dec 31 this year, says Mah Sing group managing director Datuk Leong Hoy Kum (pix).
He says the group would benefit from recent government incentives such as the abolition of the real property gains tax(RPGT) and relaxation of Foreign Investment Committee guideline.  “It’s definitely good news and purchasers should take advantage of it,” he said, adding that the feel good factor is helping the mid to high-end residential segments of the property market.
Mah Sing’s range of products, namely the Perdana, Residence and Lagenda brands are within these segments.
He was speaking to reports after the EGM to approve a corporate exercise involving a rights issue, share split and bonus issue, proceeds of which would be used to fund the working capital of seven new projects.
The rights issue involves a proposed maximum of 53.03 million new ordinary shares of RM1 each on the basis of one rights share for every four existing ordinary shares of RM1 each; the proposed share split involves the subdivision of every one existing ordinary share RM1 each into two ordinary shares of 50 sen each and; proposed bonus issue of up to 106.07 million new ordinary shares of 50 sen each on the basis of one bonus share for every five existing ordinary shares of 50 sen each.
Leong added that the group is looking for land in Johor since recent government measures for the development of the Iskandar Development Region augurs well for developers there.
“We’ve been in Johor since 2000 where we’ve three ongoing projects… we see demand picking up but not instantly with growth [for Mah Sing] in the region expected to come gradually in the next three to 10 years,” he said.
Currently, the group’s Klang Valley projects contribute 70% to revenue, with the rest coming from Johor.  Leong said the group would not acquire land unnecessarily although it is in a good financial position (with gearing at 0.27 times as Dec 31 last year) unless there is potential for growth.
“We’re not looking at the amount of land that we can have but how much value we can create from the land that we’re [acquired]…it is not much about the sales volume anymore but on the marhines,” he said.  Mah Sing currently has 570 acres of land in the Klang Valley and Johor, with a potential gross development value (GDV) of RM2.2 billion and unbilled sales of RM425 million.
Leong said the seven new projects – Duta Perdana (in Puchong), Kumuning Residence (in Shah Alam), One Residence and Hijauan  Residence (both in Cheras), Siere Perdana (in Johor), The Ikon (in downtown Kuala Lumpur) and a commercial project in Mont’ Kiara – have a potential GDV of RM1.75 billion.
He said the group would concentrate on projects in the country for now but does not discount entering into joint ventures with landowners in India, China or in Southeast Asia for property development in the next year or two.