KUALA LUMPUR: Investors looking for exposure to the Penang property market have naturally gravitated to the island, with Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) being the current hot favourite. They have largely ignored the mainland.

But if the latest sales numbers from leading mainland Penang player Tambun Indah Land Bhd are any indication, property companies focusing on the mainland could look as interesting as those across the narrow South Straits that separates it from Penang island.

Listed in January this year, Tambun Indah, a leading mainland Penang property player, on Thursday announced a 54.2% jump in revenue for 1HFY11 ended June 30 from RM57.32 million to RM88.4 million.

In a statement, managing director Teh Kiak Seng attributed the increase to contributions from ongoing development projects.

However, higher costs narrowed the growth in pre-tax profit to 16%, or RM21.76 million in 1HFY11, compared with RM18.76 million in 1HFY10. Due to higher minority interests, net profit fell 16% to RM11.12 million in 1HFY11, or 5.03 sen per share, compared with RM13.25 million in 1HFY10. The group registered a net profit of RM23.76 million in 2009, slightly higher than RM23.47 million a year before.

The substantial jump in revenue may be an indication that the property boom on wealthy Penang island is spilling over to the mainland. And the company offers good dividends too. It has proposed an interim single-tier dividend of 4.6 sen, to be paid on Sept 7. This translates into a net dividend yield of 6.1%.

"We commenced construction of five new projects in 1HFY11, recognising the rising demand for residential properties following the rapid industrial developments in mainland Penang. At the same time, we noted positive take-up rates for our ongoing Pearl Garden and Pearl Villa developments, which together constitute approximately half of 1HFY11 group revenue," Teh said.

Tambun Indah embarked on five new projects in 1HFY11 – Pearl Villas, Dahlia Park, Impian Residence, Tanjung Heights and Capri Park. Teh expects these projects to contribute to the group's performance in the remaining half of FY11 ending December.

"At present, our GDV [gross development value] stands at RM1.7 billion, which will last us until 2016, with unbilled sales of RM225 million," he wrote, adding that he is optimistic of the group's performance for the remaining half of FY11.

Tambun Indah started operations in 1995. Its maiden project was Taman Tambun Indah, a township of over 800 houses, 300 bungalows, 40 semi-detached units, shop offices and terraced houses. The group has a landbank of over 121ha, mainly in mainland Penang.

In a year that saw most IPOs falling under water, Tambun Indah's shares were last traded at 76 sen, up 8.6% from the IPO price of 70 sen. The stock has traded between 86.5 sen and 65.5 sen since it was listed, and is currently trading at 1.1 times its book value of 68 sen as at June 30.

The company has a market capitalisation of RM168 million. Based on annualised earnings for 1HFY11, it is trading at a price-earnings ratio of around 7.6 times earnings for this year.

In an earlier note issued during the listing, MIMB Research said it expects Tambun Indah's net profit to grow by 10% in 2011 and 11% in 2012, mainly underpinned by property projects in the pipeline with a GDV of RM1 billion. "Dividend yield of 7% to 8% is one of the highest in the property sector. We value Tambun Indah Land at a fair value of 81 sen, based on a 30% discount to realiasable net asset value," it said.

SOURCE: The Edge Property

Stramax Residences is a Gated and Guarded residential development  located along Jalan Kenari within the  established township of Sungai Ara, Penang. This development comprises 85 units of 3-storey terrace, 22 units of  3-storey townhouse.

Property Project : Stramax Residences
Location : Sungai Ara, Penang
Property Type : 3-storey terrace & townhouse
Tenure : Freehold
Total Units : 85 (3-storey Terrace), 22 (3-storey Townhouse)
Developer : Palmex Industries
Contact No: 04-646 9022 / 04-646 9023
Indicative Price: RM 1,500,000 onwards

Location Map:

D’Zone Condominium is a new freehold condominium located along Jalan Teluk Kumbar, Penang. It is close to the 2nd Penang Bridge Link and a mere minutes to Sungai Ara and Bayan Baru. The development consists of 18-storey block with a total of 96 condominium units.

Property Project : D’Zone Condominium
Location : Teluk Kumbar, Penang
Property Type : Condominium
Tenure : Freehold
Total Units : 96
Built-up Area: 1,500 sq.ft. – 2,840 sq.ft.
Developer : Palmex Industries
Contact No: 04-646 9022 / 04-646 9023

Indicative Price: RM 498,000 onwards

INTERNATIONAL contractors from several countries have indicated that they are interested to build four proposed major road projects in Penang.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the contractors were from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

He said the state government would invite those interested to bid for the projects via request for proposals (RFP) at the end of the year.

“The RFP will be out at the end of the year. It will take another six months before the contracts can be awarded to the successful bidders,” Lim said in an interview on Friday.

He said the time was needed for the state to evaluate the bids and for the bidders to conduct feasibility studies for the projects.

The proposed projects are the 4.2km Gurney Drive-Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu by-pass, the 4.6km Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu-Bandar Baru Air Itam bypass, the 6.5km Penang-Butterworth Tunnel, and a 12km proposed road connecting Tanjung Bungah and Teluk Bahang.

The Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) is now carrying out a study for the 6.5km Penang-Butterworth Tunnel project that will connect Gurney Drive on Penang island and Bagan Ajam in north Seberang Prai.

Lim has said earlier that BUCG had stated that they had secured RM10bil in funds should the project move forward.

The Penang-Butterworth Tunnel project stemmed from a memorandum of understanding between BUCG and the state government signed in Putrajaya in April.

It was one of eight agreements signed between Malaysia and China in the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.

Lim had earlier also said that while the state welcomed all proposals, the project would be awarded by open tender.

BUCG is an established state-owned company in China whose projects included the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing.

Source: The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: There is a property bubble building up in Malaysia and the region but it is nowhere near alarming levels as the main indicators are still at comfortable levels, AmInvestment Bank Group said.

“As an investor, I love bubbles because that’s where the money is. At this juncture, I see a small bubble in the property market, it’s no where near big yet and I’m not seeing any property bubble bursting soon,” AmInvestment Bank Group director of retail funds Ng Chze How said.

“For that to take place, I think you need to see a few factors taking place. Firstly, you need to see very high overall borrowings and leveraging, which is currently not happening. Secondly, is to look at the non-performing loans (NPLs). Across this region, the NPLs are still very healthy. Thirdly, you need to look at the liquidity in the market. There’s so much liquidity, so much cash sitting in the system.”

Ng was speaking to the media after the launch of the country’s first Asia Pacific REITs unit trust fund by AmMutual here yesterday.

The unit trust funds will be solely investing in REITs in Asia.

For a start, it is looking at Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, besides a minimal exposure in Malaysia. The fund will be managed by Funds Management Division (FMD) of AmInvestment Bank Group.

“When we are creating this fund, we want it to be riskier than bonds but safer than equities. This fund does that. It offers investors opportunities to diversify away from stocks and bonds and thus, reducing investors’ overall portfolio risks,” said FMD chief executive officer Datin Maznah Mahbob.

She added that investors will receive high dividend yields from investing in REITs as the fund is structured to distribute a high percentage of its profit to shareholders.

Over the past five years, the performance of REITs in Asia had outperformed global REITs by more than three times. During the period, REITs in Asia grew 46.2 per cent, while REITs globally grew 14.4 per cent.

“We are comfortable with Asian properties, in line with the region’s continued growth, which will lead to an increasing demand for commercial occupancy rates in Asia, which are averaging to above 90 per cent.

“For certain countries in Asia Pacific, we are seeing an uptrend in rental rates for both offices and the retail sector, which will bode well for unitholders of REITs as this translates to higher income distribution,” said Andrew Wong, chief investment officer of equity, asset allocation, and fund management.

The approved fund size is 200 million units with an initial offer price of 50 sen per unit. The initial offer period ends this Sunday, and its minimum investment being RM1,000 for Malaysian residents and the minimum additional investment for Malaysian residents is RM500.

The fund is distributed by all AmBank branches, AmBank Agency sales force, AmPriority Banking, AmPrivate Banking and Hong Leong Bank.

Source: Business Times