Flood protections serve SC Asset well

“We only had to delay one detached-house project from this year to the first quarter of next year because its location on Rama V faced flooding, but that has had little impact on our business this year,” chief operating officer Kree Dejchai said yesterday.
Next year 20 residential projects worth Bt15 billion will be launched, including one each in Hua Hin and Cha-am as it ventures outside the capital, the company’s first venture into the provinces, he said.
Although residential demand came to a standstill in October and November when Bangkok and the suburbs were inundated, the company managed to rack up presales of Bt2.27 billion. This was lower than the target by about 5 per cent but still higher than in the same two months of last year.
In November and December, the company went ahead with three condominium projects worth Bt3.7 billion. It expects presales of Bt1.85 billion this quarter.
One of the three, worth Bt2.6 billion, is under the Centric brand and is on Tiwanon Road. The other two projects are under The Crest brand and are on Sukhumvit Sois 24 and 49. Those two are worth Bt1.1 billion. Their presales have already surpassed 40 per cent of total project value.
These projects have pushed the company’s backlog to Bt4 billion, of which Bt800 million will be realised as revenue in this final quarter of the year.
“Our total revenue and net profit may miss our target of about 5-per-cent growth, but our financial results will still be higher than last year,” Kree said.
The company has predicted revenue of Bt7.5 billion this year.
SC Asset earned Bt949.9 million on revenue of Bt5.8 billion in the first nine months, up 34 per cent and 54 per cent from the same period of last year.
LANDSCAPE AND DESIGN CHANGE
After the run-off poured into Greater Bangkok, the company spent Bt30 million to protect its 33 residential projects – both existing projects that had already sold out and current projects that were ready for sale now.
It has also budgeted at least Bt10 million to modify its protection system for the long term at the 33 residential sites. The measures include installing a pump system and designing a floodway system.
New residential projects have also been redesigned. Landfills will be increased to raise the ground level to at least a metre above the main road. The projects will also have the beefed-up protection systems.
These steps increase construction costs by about 0.1 per cent of total project value.
After the redesign and expected rise in labour costs, the company believes that residential prices will increase next year, depending on location and market competition, Kree said.