BEIJING: CB Richard Ellis's (CBRE) Asia Research Report details how China's high-speed rail network will change the property landscape of the country, it said in a press release on Monday, Dec 6. The network will bring new opportunities for real estate development that will serve as station-based central business districts.

SP Setia

Ending The Year With a Bang

The company’s FY10 core earnings came in 10% above our estimates but within consensus numbers. FY10 turnover and core net profit, after stripping out an estimated  exceptional gain of RM44m from the disposal of property, improved by 24% (+35% q-o-q) and 28% (+47% q-o-q) respectively.

· Within expectations
FY2010 results came in within house but above market expectations. SP Setia posted a record net profit of RM251.8m which was 47.1% higher yo-y. A final net DPS of 10.5 sen was declared. Total net DPS for the year was 15 sen with payout ratio at 61%, which were inline with expectations.

SP SETIA

Investment Highlights

• We reaffirm our BUY rating on SP Setia Bhd and raise our fair value from RM6.50/share to RM6.80/share, based on a 5% discount to our revised fully diluted (FD) NAV estimate
of RM7.16/share. The higher NAV estimate is mostly underpinned by the stronger pricing assumptions for Setia City (GDV: RM5bil).

KUANTAN: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) recorded RM67.29 million in returns in the third quarter of this year from its investment in real estate.

Describing it as an encouraging figure, EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said EPF had now invested RM1.89 billion or 0.44 per cent in real estate out of its total investment of over RM420 billion.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bolton Bhd is selling Lim Thiam Leong Realty Sdn Bhd, the registered and beneficial owner of 70 parcels of retail lots in the podium, all the office suites and 286 parking bays in Campbell Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR: Developers of stratified properties should be more transparent on the buildings' overall maintenance cost with the buyers of the properties.

Making this call, International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) Malaysia president Yeow Thit Sang said there had been a lot of unresolved problems especially on the collection of maintenance fees.

SHAH ALAM: Gamuda Bhd is targeting RM5 billion in property sales over the next two years driven by two projects namely Gamuda City and Celadon City, both in Vietnam.

"We are expecting RM2 billion in sales from local projects and RM3 billion from the two projects in Vietnam.

GEORGE TOWN: The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) of Penang is claiming that the high cost of land is the main reason for houses being sold at high prices in the state.

Chairman Datuk Jerry Chan Fook Sing said the high cost of land was also the reason for developers' inclination towards building upmarket homes in the state.

KUALA LUMPUR: A recent business delegation of local construction companies to Cambodia and Laos identified US$428 million (RM1.35 billion) of building and infrastructure projects in both the countries, a statement from Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) said on Thursday, Dec 9.