Crescendo eyes high-end market

Crescendo eyes high-end market
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Afiq Isa of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 30 July 2013 10:46

KUALA LUMPUR: Crescendo Corp Bhd is eyeing the high-end property market with the aim of beefing up its margins, said managing director Gooi Seong Lim.

He told reporters after the company AGM yesterday that Crescendo intends to convert 60 acres (24.3ha) of its industrial landbank in Nusa Cemerlang Industrial Park in Nusajaya, Johor, to accommodate high-end commercial and residential projects.

“If the conversion (of the land) is approved, the high-end projects will contribute better margins for us,” Gooi said on the two-year plan.

While Crescendo is not undertaking any high-end property projects at the moment, he said its 1,700-acre landbank in Iskandar Malaysia is more than enough to accommodate new property developments.

“We were previously concentrated on industrial and medium-cost residential PROPERTIES []. But now we also want to offer a full spectrum of properties for our purchasers,” Gooi said.

All of Crescendo’s projects are in Johor, with 56% of its total landbank located within Iskandar.

Gooi expressed optimism the property market in Iskandar will not become saturated as more developers continue to make inroads into the area.

“We take into account three factors — more job opportunities in Iskandar, Johor’s expected population growth and property purchasers from nearby Singapore,” he said.

Crescendo currently has two industrial parks and two multi-storey shop offices in Iskandar.

In the medium-cost segment, the company plans to start developing the recently launched Bandar Cemerlang development by early 2015.

“It is a fairly big project with over 100 acres of landed residential development.

“Depending on demand, the completion of the project will be spread over 10 years,” Gooi said, adding that the company plans to build over 1,000 terraced houses in Bandar Cemerlang.

With an estimated gross development value of RM3 billion, he said Bandar Cemerlang will offer affordable homes to meet strong demand for such properties in Johor Baru.

Through its 90% owned subsidiary Crescendo Land Sdn Bhd, the group is undertaking a waterfront mixed development along Sungai Rekoh near Johor Baru.

For the financial year ended Jan 31, 2013 (FY13), Crescendo reported a net profit of RM59.61 million, a 9.76% drop from RM66.06 million for FY12.

According to Gooi, the decrease in earnings was attributed to lower industrial property sales throughout last year.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 30, 2013.