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Published on April 10, 2008

The Sansiri Group has raised its sights for project launches from 15 to 26 this year on brighter housing prospects following the government's announcement last month of real-estate tax incentives.

The group's new business plan stipulates that Sansiri and subsidiaries Plus Property and Prom Pattana will start up 26 residential projects worth Bt25.7 billion instead of 15 projects worth Bt15.3 billion.

The new presales target is Bt26 billion, of which Bt19 billion is expected to be booked as revenue this year, up 11 per cent from the previous forecast of Bt17 billion.

Sansiri president Srettha Thavisin yesterday said the new estimates were based on the current market situation, especially with the government's property stimulus package igniting demand for new residences.

On the revised launch schedule are eight single-detached-house projects worth Bt7.6 billion, 10 condominium projects worth Bt11 billion and eight townhouse projects worth Bt7.1 billion.

The March 30 stimulus package for the property business cuts the transfer tax from 2 per cent to 0.01 per cent, the special business tax from 3.3 per cent to 0.01 per cent and the mortgage registration fee from 1 per cent to 0.01 per cent.

"Our new business plan was adjusted following Plus Property's problem. We're confident our new presales target can be achieved since our presales in the first quarter reached Bt6 billion," Srettha said.

The company has a presales backlog of Bt22 billion that will be booked as revenue this year and the next two years.

Sansiri has reported Bt707.93 million in net profit on revenue of Bt13.88 billion last year.

Last week, two brokerages - Asia Plus Securities and Siam City Securities - recommended "sell" on Sansiri shares after Plus Property had to suspend 11 condo projects when the structures did not conform to the building code. They believe Sansiri will suffer after Plus Property's sales dropped nearly Bt400 million when it could not deliver units on time.

However, Syrus Securities recommended "hold", while Finansa Securities recommended "buy", because it believed Plus Property's

problem would hurt Sansiri's financial results by only 2.5 percentage points.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation