KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): Avaland Bhd, formerly known as MCT Group Bhd, is confident that its unbilled sales will surpass the RM1 billion mark by the end of this year, expanding from the RM792.4 million as at March 31, 2023.

At a press conference on Friday (July 7), Avaland Bhd chief executive officer (CEO) Teh Heng Chong said the anticipated increase is mainly based on the group’s RM1.2 billion worth of new property launches in the pipeline.

“The RM1 billion unbilled sales is expected to provide the group earnings visibility of between three- and four years,” he said.

Teh said the new launches will be Alora Residences, AMIKA Residences and Casa Embun.

Alora Residences will comprise 770 serviced apartments and eight retail units located in Subang. AMIKA Residences, also in Subang, will have 493 units of service apartments and retail units.

Casa Embun is located in Cybersouth. Teh said the group plans to launch phase two, comprising 800 units service apartments. Currently, phase one has achieved a 50% take-up rate.  

Meanwhile, the group is targeting new property sales of RM850 million for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023), up 57% from the RM540 million sales it achieved in FY2022.

Separately, the company said its new name, Avaland, is derived from “Avant-Garde”, which means embrace innovation and introduce new concepts. The company believes the word “Ava” evokes a sense of revitalisation and dynamism, perfectly capturing the transformative nature of the company, with a renewed culture that places customer centricity and performance at the forefront.

The CEO said that Avaland’s name also bears resemblance to its parent company, Ayala Land Inc, a property developer from the Philippines, who controls a 66.25% stake in Avaland through its unit Regent Wise Investments Ltd. The group (Ayala Land) first emerged in the company (MCT Group) after acquiring a 9% stake in 2015, before increasing its stake over the years, and eventually buying out MCT founder Barry Goh in 2018. 

The new brand name reflects the company (Avaland)’s anticipation of leveraging the achievements of Ayala Land, one of the most established property developers in the Philippines, which it expects to open new opportunities for growth, following its comprehensive organisational restructuring in 2018 and the refocus of its core business on property development.

“By tapping on Ayala Land’s expertise and solid track record in developing large-scale integrated, mixed-use and sustainable estates, we are confident of achieving our rebranding initiative’s goal to elevate our corporate branding and build trust among our customers and stakeholders,” said Teh.

Avaland returned to the black in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022) with an annual net profit of RM7.09 million, following two straight loss-making years. It posted an annual net loss of RM876,221 and RM9.12 million in FY2020 and FY2021 respectively, according to its annual reports.
 
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023), the group posted a net profit of RM136,000, versus a net loss of RM12.20 million a year ago, as it saw higher revenue and reduced finance costs and income tax expenses. Quarterly revenue almost doubled to RM76.58 million, from RM38.62 million previously, on the back of higher property sales.

In 1QFY2023, Avaland’s net property sales grew by 19.7% to RM104.8 million, from RM87.5 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year, in line with its increased number of ongoing projects.

Shares in Avaland closed unchanged at 17 sen on Friday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM248 million.