KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Eco World Development Group Bhd (KL:ECOWLD) is looking to grow its recurring income base from around 20% to 30% of its total revenue for the next three to five years, said its executive director, president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah.

The growth will be supported by the group's five pillars business, mainly Eco Hubs (commercial space), Eco Business Parks (green industrial parks), Quantum (data centres), coupled with its core businesses Eco Townships (landed residential homes) and Eco Rise (high-rise developments).

“We want a stable income for better, for rain, for snow, for whatever it is, we must accumulate recurring income,” Chang said during the group's data centre and recurring income strategy presentation on Wednesday.

According to him, the group is currently accumulating a “little bit” of recurring income, but he did not reveal the figure.

“This is what we want to do, solidify the five revenue pillars. Each of them must keep on breaking records, sales, revenue and profit,” he said.

He also highlighted that the company’s latest segment, Quantum — which focuses on high tech and digital businesses — is one of the fastest growth engines for the group, and will be supporting the recurring income moving forward.

Since last August, the property developer has been involved in four industrial land sales worth RM1.59 billion with global tech giants such as Microsoft and Google.

The latest is its long-term leasing deal with Google’s affiliate Pearl Computing Malaysia Sdn Bhd which was announced on Tuesday. It involves a 20-year triple-net lease for 92 acres of land.

Despite the frenzy over data-centre land lease, EcoWorld emphasised that it remains a real estate business and not a technology player.

“We are not in the data business. It's a pure land transaction. They [the lessee] could have been from any [industry], manufacturer or anything. It is a land transaction,” he stressed.

EcoWorld said that the group has no plans to propose a special dividend despite achieving record sales of RM4.07 billion in the financial year ended Oct 31, 2024 (FY2024).

“No, at this point in time, our dividends, as what we have done over the last few years, we will look at either doing the same or doing better dividend payout as compared to the year before. So, no special dividend,” Chang said.

He explained that this is due to the group’s strategic approach to reinvesting capital rather than immediate shareholder distributions.

“We want to grow the money again. So we will reinvest, we will buy new land, we will put into the build and lease, and we will do things like that. So hopefully with that, we can grow even faster,” he added.

EcoWorld maintained a six sen dividend payout for FY2024, after posting a 60.33% jump in net profit to RM303.54 million from RM189.32 million in FY2023, although annual revenue came in flat at RM2.26 billion.

Shares of EcoWorld finished up one sen or 0.51% to RM1.96 on Wednesday, valuing the group at RM5.8 billion.