KUALA LUMPUR: I-Berhad, which is developing the RM9 billion i-City project in Shah Alam, Selangor posted a pre-tax profit of RM88.2 million for the financial year just ended 31 December 2016, representing 61.9 percent growth over the previous year.
Despite market and political uncertainties worldwide, the group earned another record-setting profit thanks to new sales achieved at i-City, its flagship development.
Revenue for the year was RM383.6 million, rising by 49 percent over the previous year.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, I-Berhad said the group's property development segment was the largest contributor to its revenue in 2016 recording RM332 million.
This accounted for 87 percent of the total sales achieved while RM45 million or 12 percent came from the group's leisure segment.
"Despite the challenging economic environment, there is strong demand for properties in i-City and we expect to launch more in the near future," said I-Berhad executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong.
Lim said, the group underscored its record-achieving profits in 2016 with RM333 million in new property sales compared to the previous year.
It also started 2017 on a good footing with unbilled sales of RM578 million, he said in a statement.
Lim said I-Berhad is on track to meet the goal it had set at the start of its transformative journey of having a diversified earnings base in which half would be recurring streams from the property investment and leisure segments.
"This will be underpinned by our aim of achieving RM500 million annual revenue in the property development segment by 2018, an investment property portfolio which would have been built up to RM1 billion by then amid the doubling of revenue from our Leisure segment," said Lim.
Lim said, the i-City development remained the main contributor to the group and this would continue for the next few years as 90 percent of the approved gross floor area (GFA) has yet to be completed.
"In the second quarter of this year we will unveil a unique urban lifestyle project residing above the DoubleTree by Hilton i-City Hotel. The units will be fully furnished with standards on par with the Hilton brand-name.
"This project will also be Internet of Things (IoT) ready and connected with advanced smart home features. Looking at all that is coming up we reckon that i-City would continue to be a major earnings contributor to the group for the next 10 to 15 years," said Lim.