Supalai lines up 10 new projects for 2010

Supalai Ratchayothin

The new projects will boost sales by at least 20 per cent next year compared with this year, said president Prateep Tangmatitham.

Land for nine of the 10 planned residential projects has already been acquirednow have the location and land to develop residential projects, as the rest will buy land in the last two months of this year and the next year. Five projects will be low-rise residences, including detached houses, townhouses and twin-houses. Three of them will be located in Bangkok and its suburbs. Two will be located in Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Chiang Mai is the new location for a residential project as the company sees potential for strong demand there.

There will be two condominium projects and two low-cost residential projects that could qualify for tax privileges from the Board of Investment. One of the low-cost projects will be a condominium located on Sukhumvit 107, and the other a townhouse estate on Rangsit.

He said this marked the first time Supalai would be building low-cost residences under the BOI tax privileges.

Prateep said that after BOI relaxed its rule to provide tax incentives, it was a challenge for the company to build low-cost estates.

Prateep said the company is also studying the possibility of expanding its investment overseas by focusing on six Asian countries - Vietnam, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and the Philippines.

"At the moment we're only studying the possibilities for investing overseas. But the investment could be in the next three or four years," he added.

Meanwhile, the company plans to sell its treasury stock of 120 million shares - which it bought from the market last year when its share price fell to between Bt2 and Bt2.50 - this month. The company has appointed CIMB Thai and DBS to be its financial advisers.

"If we sell the treasury stock, it will generate profits for the company, especially when Supalai's current share price is between Bt5 and Bt6 per share," he said.

The company recorded revenue of Bt2.29 billion and net profit of Bt587.35 million in the third quarter, up 69 per cent and 126 per cent year on year, respectively. In the first nine months, revenue reached Bt6.95 billion and net profit Bt1.8 billion, increasing by 51 per cent and 113 per cent respectively over the same period in 2008.

The company expects revenue for the year to exceed its estimate of Bt10 billion, thanks to demand for residences recovering in the second half.

The company is launching two condominium projects worth a total of Bt3.9 billion this week - Supalai Park Ratchayothin and Supalai Park Asoke-Ratchada.

It will also launch a condominium project worth Bt900 million in Phuket next month. That will drive its presales and total revenue above its estimates for the year, Prateep said.