Symphony Life eyes 25% profit growth in FY14

KUALA LUMPUR: Symphony Life Bhd is looking at increasing its profit growth by up to 25% for financial year 2014 (FY14) ending March 31, supported by ongoing projects and property launches as well as unbilled sales of RM500 million.

The property development company, formerly known as Bolton Bhd, registered a net profit of RM86.6 million for FY13 on a turnover of RM406.9 million, its highest in the last five years.  

Speaking after Symphony Life’s AGM and EGM yesterday, group executive chairman Tan Sri Azman Yahya said it has seven existing property development projects in the Klang Valley, Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Kedah.

The company is looking to launch a 34-unit villa and 128-unit condominium project in Taman Tasik Prima in Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, a duplex in Mont Kiara, as well as 51G Kuala Lumpur, which is the first high-end condominium project in the region offering a private car port for each of the 71 units.

The group is also targeting to launch its signature Tijani Signal Hill project, which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM520 million, in Kota Kinabalu by the first quarter of 2014.

Azman said these ongoing projects have a GDV of RM3 billion, which will support the group for three to five years.

For FY13, the group had benefited from a one-off gain from the disposal of 206 acres (83.3ha) of its 626-acre quarry land in Sungai Long to a subsidiary of YTL Bhd, Batu Tiga Quarry Sdn Bhd.

“The sale of the quarry land raised proceeds of RM100 million, which the group will utilise to develop the remaining over 400 acres of land into a township over a period of 10 years.

“We are planning on the development now, and are still working out some details,” said Azman, adding that the proposed development might materialise towards year-end.

He said the group has been in talks with several parties on a possible joint venture or an outright purchase of land for development, which should also materialise by year-end. The parties are landowners and small developers.

On Budget 2014, Azman said he expects the property market to react to the announcements. “There have been a lot of speculations. We might possibly see some pulling measures but we think that this would help the property market,” he said.

He added that the property market is quite resilient and the next government’s measures will probably be positive for the sustainability of the property market.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 25, 2013.