In a bourse filing today, the property developer said it recorded sales of RM1.32 billion in 2Q21, which is almost double the sales of RM706 million achieved in 1Q21.

Revenue for the quarter under review was recorded at RM420.46 million versus RM345.40 million last year, while its basic earnings per share stood at 1.44 sen from 0.53 sen.

President and chief executive officer Chang Khim Wah said as at May 31, 2021 (seven months into the current financial year), total year-to-date sales have reached RM2.53 billion, which is 10% higher than the RM2.30 billion sales achieved in the financial year 2020 (FY20).

“Future revenue from Malaysian projects alone increased substantially from RM2.99 billion as at Feb 28, 2021 to RM3.77 billion as at May 31, 2021.

“Including EcoWorld Malaysia’s share of future revenue from EcoWorld International, total future revenue from projects undertaken in Malaysia and overseas stood at RM4.21 billion as at May 31, 2021,” he said.

Chang noted that EcoWorld Malaysia had achieved 88% of its FY21 sales target, while the strong sales momentum since the middle of last year has been encouraging.

“We are particularly encouraged by the fact that recovery has been broad-based with projects in every region performing well.

“We believe that sales performance should improve in the coming quarters as the rollout of vaccination programmes continue in many of our global customer markets.

“This should enable physical marketing activities to be carried out once again,” he said.

Chang explained that the return of office workers should also lift demand for projects that are located close to major employment centres.

“This includes the London City Island and Wardian London, which are near the Canary Wharf.

“The improving Covid-19 situation in these and other key markets will also allow the group to launch more marketing events to capture the stronger demand during summer months in the northern hemisphere,” he said.

Accordingly, he said that the group should be on track to achieve its FY21 sales target of RM2.2 billion by the end of the financial year.

EcoWorld Malaysia declared an interim dividend of two sen per share in 2Q21, while EcoWorld International, which achieved the first repatriation of profits from its United Kingdom joint venture, EcoWorld-Ballymore, in April 2021, has declared a special dividend of five sen per share for the quarter.

The group’s financial year ends on Oct 31, 2021.