Upbeat developers gear for 2013

Major Development will launch four condominiums and serviced-apartment projects worth Bt7 |billion.
CMC Group plans to launch eight projects worth Bt4 billion, while Aquarius Estate will launch three projects together valued at Bt2.3 billion.
Three of the Major Develop-ment projects will be condominiums close to Bangkok’s mass-transit system. They are together valued at Bt6 billion.
The developer’s other project will be serviced apartments worth Bt1 billion on Sukhumvit Road.
The investment budget will come from cash flow and bank borrowings, which will maintain the company’s debt-to-equity ratio at not over 2:1.
“We want to create rental income at between 20 and 30 per cent of our portfolio in the next five years, so we will launch an average of one rental-income project a year,” managing director Suriyon Poolvoralucks said during a group interview yesterday.
The developer’s first such project is the Marrakesh Resort & Spa Hua Hin. This will be followed the Equinox office building on Phahol-Vibha, due to be completed in 2014 with rental space of 20,000 square metres that will be available at between Bt500 and Bt600 per square metre per month.
Then there will be the serviced-apartment project set to be launched next year.
Currently, Major Development’s rental income accounts for about 5 per cent of its revenue.
 The company recorded revenue of Bt1.48 billion and a net loss of Bt76.86 million for the first nine months of this year.
Suriyon said the company believes its full-year financial results will better than the first nine months, as it has Bt300 million and Bt400 million worth of housing to be transferred to customer this month and next. This will drive revenue for the year to nearly Bt2 billion, and could be positive for the bottom line.
“Our financial results show a net loss in the first nine months of the year because most of our condominium projects will transfer to customers in the last quarter of the year, and over the next three years. But we have to shoulder both construction and marketing costs before transferring the homes under our accounting system,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company has a backlog of projects already sold and awaiting transfer to customers worth Bt7 billion, Bt2 billion of which will be transferred in 2014 as the remainder over the following two years.
Aquarius Estate’s three project launches next year are a high-end detached-housing project comprising 15 exclusive residences worth Bt300 million; a Bt1-billion project alongside the new BTS Skytrain line; and another Bt1-billion project in the Sukhumvit central business district.
Chief executive officer Yongyutt Chaipromprasith said the new projects are expected to drive growth by 10 per cent a year when compared with this year’s targeted revenue of Bt700 million. Of this year’s income, Bt510 million will be from the Aequa Residence project, Bt113 million from management service fees and Bt85 million from asset-rental yields.
CMC Group CEO Vichein Patta-yanan said his company’s eight planned projects next year comprise six condominium and two townhouse projects, which would boost revenue by between 10 and 20 per cent from this year’s level.
The company recorded revenue of Bt1 billion for the first nine months of the year and targets Bt1.5 billion for the full year, he said.