Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Malaysia’s Mah Sing may gear up for land acquisitions

Mah Sing Group Bhd, a Malaysian developer, may gear up to build a RM1 billion (S$414.26 million) war chest for acquiring land to capitalise on an expected rebound in the Malaysian property market, group managing director Leong Hoy Kum said in a statement yesterday. ‘We believe that developers like us with sufficient cash and a healthy balance sheet will continue to grow stronger,’ Mr Leong said, in a statement accompanying the company’s fourth-quarter results.

Net income climbed 46 per cent to RM25.1 million, or 3.88 sen per share, in the three months ended Dec 31, as revenue jumped 64 per cent to RM249 million, the statement said. The company is proposing a final dividend of 6.5 sen per ordinary share.

Mah Sing had RM400 million in cash and zero net gearing at the end of December. ‘Should we gear up to 0.5 times, we can build a war chest of approximately RM1 billion to purchase good prime land that suits our business model,’ Mr Leong said in the statement.

The developer spent RM323 million buying 184 acres of land last year to take advantage of reasonable asset prices when the South-east Asian nation slipped into its first recession in decade.

Source: Business Times, 23 Feb 2010

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