By Lawrence Yong
Malaysia’s top property developer SP Setia Berhad said the company’s board has approved a management succession plan to ensure continued growth even as the group’s sales soared to record heights.
It’s current president and CEO Liew Kee Sin will be succeeded by Deputy President & COO Voon Tin Yow and the company’s incumbent CFO Teow Leong Seng will take over as Deputy President, when Liew eventually leaves. Liew has been credited with much of SP Setia’s success since taking over the company in 1996.
“The retirement date will be announced in due course when Liew is ready,” a company spokeswoman wrote in reply to KiniBiz query.
SP Setia said its net profits rose by 30 percent to RM93 million in the quarter ended January 31, compared to the same period a year ago, due to soaring sales.
The company said it was on track to hit a record RM5.5 billion target for FY13, as sales also rose 64 percent in the last four months to RM2.02 billion.
“We have had a great start to the year with several significant projects launched both in Malaysia and overseas,” company CEO Liew was quoted saying in a press release.
For its first quarter FY13 period, SP Setia booked 45 percent higher revenues, at RM631 million for its core property development business. The company booked higher revenues mainly from strong sales of its projects in Klang Valley and Johor Bahru since 2011.
FY2013 began very strongly for the Group with the launch of its iconic London Battersea Power Station project, SP Setia said. “The project received overwhelming response in every city, resulting in a 95 percent take up rate for the Phase 1 residential apartments achieved to date,” the company said it a statement.
SP Setia has 40 percent stake in Battersea, a project with reported RM40 billion gross development value.
The company said it expects to start signing S&P agreements with Battersea buyers by April 2013. However, it was previously reported that the group can only book sales and profits for Battersea upon project completion, following local U.K. laws.
Besides Battersea, SP Setia also launched “Setia Eco Glades” in Cyberjaya, “Setia EcoHill” in Semenyih and “Econ Sanctuary” in Singapore.
Its margins for property development were however slightly lower as a bigger portion of profits were now coming from sales of high rise developments versus landed properties before, SP Setia said.
The company said its construction business suffered a slump. Quarterly revenues were down 3 percent to RM29 million and pre-tax profit slumped a hefty 90 percent as it worked under concession on build, operate and transfer public works for Penang and Sabah state governments. These works were done in exchange for yet unrealised benefits such as development rights in Penang and land exchange in Sabah.
SP Setia also said as at 31 January 2013, the Group had approximately RM70 billion left of remaining Gross Development Value to be realised and 5,384 acres of undeveloped prime landbank.
Liew said that he was counting on his successors, both with some 33 years experience in SP Setia, to unlock more value from the company.
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