KLCCP sees steady revenue on organic growth, cost-cut plans

by **Cals** Tue 10 Jun 2014, 03:17

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Bernama

Monday, 09 June 2014 18:34

KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): KLCC Property Holdings Bhd (KLCCP) expects organic growth and cost reduction plans to keep its revenue stream steady, said CEO Datuk Hashim Wahir.

"In the short term, there will be no new space coming out. Our last was the KLCC Tower 3.

"Therefore, we are not expecting any big jump in revenue. Our revenue growth had always been steady at 3-4 per cent with profit growth at 7-8 per cent," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Invest Malaysia 2014 here today.

To reduce costs, Hashim said, KLCCP would look for economies of scale and harness the group's strengths.

"We are looking at reducing our cost of doing business such as changing the lights to light-emitting diodes, which will reduce our utility cost," he said.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, KLCCP's pre-tax profit surged to RM243.6 million from RM206.5 million in the same quarter last year, on the back of increased revenue of RM340.8 million from RM311.9 million previously.

It attributed the better results to positive contributions from almost all segments, including higher revenue from office rentals, retail rentals and hotel operations.

Asked on the impact of the goods and services tax (GST) on the retail market, he said "nowadays customers are already paying the service tax and the new tax is just a replacement of that."

However, he noted, customers would still have the ultimate power given that retailers would have no choice but to reduce their rates if the number of customers started to drop.

"At the end of the day, everything is determined by market demand," he added.