Chewathai steps up the pace for |revenue goal of Bt4.5 bn in 2021
LISTED property firm Chewathai Plc aims to achieve total revenue of up to Bt4.5 billion in 2021 under a plan to launch at least eight residential projects valued at between Bt6 billion and Bt7 billion a year, managing director Boon Choon Kiat said.
Boon, in an interview with The Nation, said the property developer had been posting only moderate growth since its establishment in 2008 until 2014, a period in which it launched an average of one or two residential projects a year. But that pattern changed in 2015, when the company embarked on an aggressive investment schedule by stepping up the pace of project launches in a bid to push total yearly revenue growth into the double digits.
At the end of 2017, the company recorded total revenue of Bt2.04 billion and net profit of Bt155.5 million, jumping 70 per cent and 146.51 per cent, respectively, from 2016. The growth rates have accelerated this year, with total revenue of Bt2.25 billion and net profit of Bt244 million booked for the first nine months – representing gains of 170.97 per cent and 897.88 per cent, respectively, from the same period of last year.
Boost from pipeline
“We expect our total revenue to achieve the targeted Bt2.4 billion at the end of this year, given the company’s total backlog of properties that have already been sold and are awaiting transfer to the buyers,” he said.
“As part of a total backlog worth Bt570 million, some of the sale proceeds that will come in as projects are completed will booked as |company in the last quarter of this year.”
The company’s inventory, which comprises units in completed projects that are awaiting sale, is worth about Bt1.53 billion. The proceeds from home purchases are credited immediately to the company's revenue, Boon said.
For 2019, the company is targeting total revenue of Bt2.8 billion, marking an expected rise of 20 per cent from this year – thanks to plans to launch at least seven residential projects worth more than Bt6 billion that year, Boon said.
In 2020, the company expects its total revenue will come in between Bt3 billion and Bt3.5 billion, helped by plans to launch at least eight housing projects worth about Bt7 billion that year. It plans to repeat that effort in 2021.
The busy launch schedule is expected to drive total revenue to at least Bt4.5 billion for that year, Boon said.
Under the company's business plan for achieving the 2021 goal, it will focus on customers from both the domestic and overseas markets, he said.
Up to 10 per cent of its customers come from overseas, including those from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. By 2021, the company expects that foreign buyers will account for 25 per cent of its total sales, Boon said.
“We are confident that Thailand's economy will maintain its growth in line with the government’s increased investment to develop the country's infrastructure,” he said.
“The new infrastructure will open up opportunities for property firms to develop residential projects at new locations, which will emerge as new central business districts following the expansion in the mass transit routes.
“This presents a challenge for property firms to drive business growth, including for our firm.”
