KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): CIMB Investment Bank Bhd said Sime Darby Bhd may register the gain from its proposed RM428.8 million Selangor land sale to a Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) unit in financial year ending June 30, 2018 (FY18). The disposal gain bodes well for Sime Darby's bottom line.

"We are positive on the group's (Sime Darby) initiative to unlock the value of its land," CIMB analyst Ivy Ng Lee Fang wrote in a note today.

Yesterday, Sime Darby said it was selling some 805 acres (322 ha) comprising two contiguous tracts (parcels A and B) in Semenyih to PNB unit Petaling Garden Sdn Bhd.

Today, Ng said: "Sime Darby is expected to record a gain on disposal of RM145 million (2.2 sen) from the disposal of Parcel A and RM150.7 million (2.3 sen) gain from the sale of Parcel B, after netting out costs. It expects to complete the disposal of Parcel A within 10 months of the unconditional date and Parcel B by June 30, 2018.

"As such, the gain will most likely be captured in FY6/18 earnings and could boost our FY18F net profit by 6%," said Ng, who maintained CIMB's Sime Darby earnings forecasts for now.

She also maintained CIMB's "hold" call for Sime Darby shares with an unchanged target price of RM8.20.

At Bursa Malaysia, Sime Darby shares fell two sen or 0.3% at 12:30pm to settle at RM7.77 for a market value of RM48.97 billion. The stock saw 587,400 shares traded.