Bangkok--16 May--Ananda Development
Ananda Development Public Company Limited announces revenues for the first quarter of 1,790 million Baht, an increase of 70% from the same quarter last year, down 71% from the previous record quarter. This exceeded the company’s guidance for the quarter by 14%
The Company announced a net profit of 110 million Baht, an increase of 2210% from the same quarter last year, down 89% from the previous record quarter.
The company also reported presales for the quarter of 2,142 million Baht, exceeding the guided presales amount by 53%.
Commenting on the results, Mrs Muntana Aue-Kitkarjorn, CFO of Ananda Development, stated that, “Ananda Development is pleased to have achieved stronger than expected revenues and profits in the first quarter. Transfers were affected by the political and economic situation but demand from customers was strong enough that we achieved a 70% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter a year ago. Our gross profit margin remained exactly on target at 34% and the net margin of 6% for the quarter reflects a relatively low level of total revenues as we had no new projects completing, but costs remained constrained, with SG&A declining 54% compared to the previous quarter.”
Commenting on the level of presales for the year, Mr. Ted Thirapatana, Chief Business Development Officer for Ananda, stated, “Exceeding our guidance for presales by 53% shows that despite the political situation and economic weakness, demand remains strong for affordable units close to mass transit stations. We are also pleased that presales for housing of 679 million Baht in the first quarter represent a 76% increase on the 384 million Baht presold in the same quarter a year before. This demonstrates that housing is back on track to perform as expected, after a difficult year in 2013 as we had to bring the housing production system up to speed after the IPO.”
He added, “Our customers are not showing any sign of financial stress despite the economic slowdown. Over 35% pay for their units entirely in cash and not a single one of our condominium customers was rejected for a mortgage during the quarter.”
Mr Chanond Ruangkritya, CEO of Ananda, said, "We are delighted to have exceeded our guidance for the quarter for both revenues and presales, despite the economic and political headwinds.”
He continued to expand on the overall business plan, “As a company we laid out a five year business plan to the investment community. Despite the political and economic situation we have continued to execute and deliver on this plan. We have continued to acquire land for future projects and including announced and unannounced projects we have sufficient assets on hand to generate our targeted revenues for 2014, 2015 and 2016, with 2017’s “bucket” already 45% full.”
He continued, “The company has made significant progress on its turn around since the IPO with record profits in 2013 and profits in the first quarter of 2014 up 2210% from the same quarter a year ago. We have acquired the land necessary for our next stage of growth and will launch additional projects later in the year. As a matter of company policy we maintain a cash balance of at least a billion Baht at all times. We have continued to have strong support from our banks and have multiple options in place to fund the cash needs of the company through the year depending on how the situation evolves. Despite the rapid growth and acquisition of additional land our Net Interest Bearing Debt to Equity ratio remains at only 0.6 times, still below our target of less than 1 times, affording us the financial flexibility to weather any storm or seize any opportunity.”
He added, “The recent issuance of a four billion Baht bond at a fixed rate of 5.4% over 3 years also secures the financial position for our growth going forward and makes us less vulnerable to changes in the financial environment.”
Commenting on the investor community response to the results, Dr John Millar, Head of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations, Ananda Development, stated, “The rapid turn around of the company and the clear prospects for growth in the future has led to a great deal of investor interest. So much so that Ananda was the 15th most traded stock on the Thai stock market in March. The level of volume demonstrates the interest in our turnaround and growth story.”