THE past two years has been very challenging for property developer-cum-theme park operator I-Bhd as measures imposed by the authorities to control the COVID-19 pandemic have derailed the group’s plan to be a billion-ringgit market cap company.
Group earnings for the past two years had been marginal as the various revenue generating activities in i-City, Shah Alam had slowed down. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group recorded a pre-tax profit of RM72.6 mil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2019.
All this is set to change with the re-opening of the economy. Signs of this is evident with the number of visitors to the City of Digital Lights hitting an all-time high during last week’s Hari Raya long holidays.
With more than RM1 bil worth of net assets, I-Bhd believes that it is in a strong position to achieve the billion-ringgit market cap company status.
The group will continue to focus on property, leisure and property investment with the upcoming DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, international convention centre, premium offices, retail suites (to be allocated for banks/financial institutions) and the BeCentral residential – all of which are located in Finance Avenue @ i-City.
This is on top of the group securing Maybank as the anchor tenant with 1,500 staff relocating from their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to the Mercu Maybank corporate tower that is also located in Finance Avenue @ i-City.
“A continuous pipeline of property development projects as well as a steadily increasing number of visitors to the theme park and shopping mall contributed to the success of I-Bhd during the pre-pandemic days,” reminisced the company’s chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong.
“We are now re-building the development pipeline by investing in new rides and attractions to attract the crowd. The redeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks (RCULS) extension will ensure that we have the funds to get back on our growth track.”
The re-opening of the economy and gradual opening of international borders will also benefit DoubleTree by Hilton i-City with the hotel slated to open in 3Q 2022.
Furthermore, the RM650 mil gross development value (GDV) BeCentral residential units located in Finance Avenue @ i-City has also attracted positive interest.
To fund the various activities so that the group can resume its double digits profit growth, it goes without saying that the group’s extension of its RCULS that is due in August this year will come in handy.
At 4.02pm, I-Bhd was down 0.5 sen or 1.75% to 28 sen with 136,900 shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM318 mil. – May 12, 2022
