Mitrajaya expects to maintain record earnings

PROPERTY and construction firm Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd, which posted record revenue and profit last year, expects to maintain or perform better in the current financial year ending December 31 2010.

This would be driven equally by the group's ongoing property and construction projects, managing director Foo Chek Lee said.

"To date, the group's combined order book value for construction and property development projects is nearly RM300 million," he told Business Times after a shareholders' meeting in Subang Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.

"We will continuously bid for projects, both in the private and public sector, and we aim to secure between RM200 million and RM300 million worth of projects," Foo said.
In the year ended December 31 2009, Mitrajaya posted RM45.5 million in net profit on revenue of RM326.3 million, up from RM2.1 million and RM195.3 million, respectively, in 2008.

Foo attributed last year's strong performance to stable prices of construction material and fuel and its ongoing property development projects.

Meanwhile, the group's overseas project called the Blue Valley Golf and Country Estate in South Africa, which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM400 million, will be completed in five years.

On the local front, Mitrajaya's three property projects in Puchong and Mont Kiara - Desa Idaman, Lavender Terraces and Kiara 9, which have a combined GDV of over RM500 million, are expected to be completed by early next year.

They will start contributing to the group's bottomline in the current financial year.

Mitrajaya has also clinched construction deals in Johor's Iskandar Malaysia, comprising of a RM64 million contract for the Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia Campus and a RM40.3 million deal for the car parks at the theme park.

Foo also said he is upbeat about the current year, especially with the rollout of construction projects under the 10th Malaysia Plan as well as the strong demand for properties priced under RM1 million.

And while the proposedrise in the foreign workers levy may bring additional cost to the group, it will not constitute a major portion of the group's cost, he added.

By Business Times