GUH plans to launch RM400 mil high-end residential project in Seremban next year

GEORGE TOWN: GUH Holdings Bhd plans to reduce its reliance on the revenue contribution of its core business of printed circuit board (PCB) — which is used in a range of electronic devices like refrigerators to audiovisual equipment — by 30% in the next five years, by shifting its focus to property development and public utility for more stable income streams.

“We have reached our optimum level in PCB manufacturing. To improve further, we would have to expand, that means more capex," GUH chief executive and managing director Datuk Kenneth H’ng told The Edge Financial Daily in an interview..

“[But] we are reducing investments in PCB as we want to focus more on utility and property development to increase their contributions,” he said.

On the property sector, H’ng said the group is expecting about RM28 million sales this year compared with RM24.9 million last year, a growth of about 13%, which it expects to come from a soon-to-be-launched landed residential project in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

The project carries a gross development value (GDV) of RM170 million and comprises terraced and semi-detached units. GUH plans to launch it in the fourth quarter of this year.

Although the property sector has softened, H’ng feels there is still demand for such properties in Seremban.

Hence, also in GUH's pipeline for Seremban is a mid-to-high-cost landed residential project with a GDV of RM400 million, which it plans to launch next year.

“We have about 150 acres (61ha) of land in Seremban, which will sustain us for the next six years. In Simpang Ampat (mainland Penang) we have 46 acres. We recently acquired 17 acres in Sungai Bakap (mainland Penang) for commercial development.

“In Kedah, we have about 385 acres, where we hope to build a township. For now it is an agricultural land. Altogether, we have 600 acres of land in the country and we are keen to increase our land bank. Our focus is mostly in Penang, Seremban and the Klang Valley.”

Find out market prices of property in Seremban here

A longer version of this story first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, 19 Oct, 2015.