Eco World says Singapore land purchase an ‘opportunistic buy’

The property developer says Malaysia remains its primary focus for its land banking activities.

This was highlighted during an analyst briefing yesterday by the property developer, which won a tender for a plot of state-owned land in Singapore last week with a winning bid of S$208.1 million (RM667.62 million).

RHB Research said the management emphasised Malaysia remains its key focus for land banking, and that its recent land acquisition in Singapore is more of an “opportunistic buy” due to the strategic location and size of development.

“The Singapore project is targeted to be launched in FY2028, while EcoWorld is still working out the development plan and, hence, the gross development value (GDV),” it said in a note today.

The group’s wholly owned unit Eco World Development (S) Pte Ltd won the tender for the 4,283 sq m site at Lorong Puntong/Sin Ming Avenue. The tender was called by Urban Redevelopment Authority, the agent for the Singapore government.

The site, which comes with a 99-year lease, is designated for residential development comprising condominiums or flats. This will be EcoWorld’s maiden residential project in the island republic.

The group has a total landbank of over 12,000 acres with an estimated GDV of about RM100 billion.

Meanwhile, EcoWorld is on track for a strong finish to its financial year ending Oct 31, 2026 (FY2026), with sales and earnings poised to hit record highs, after posting an 11% rise in third-quarter net profit.

Net profit for the quarter ended July 31 (Q3 FY2026) rose 10.9% to RM112.16 million from RM101.17 million a year ago, while revenue grew 27.5% to RM971.53 million from RM761.93 million.

For the first nine months of FY2026, net profit increased 27.7% to RM397.71 million from RM311.35 million with revenue rising 43.3% to RM3.12 billion from RM2.18 billion previously.

Its cumulative sales also surpassed its FY2026 sales target of RM4 billion, reaching RM4.05 billion as at Aug 31, 2026, or within the first 10 months of the financial year.

The residential segment accounted for the largest portion of sales at RM2.3 billion, or 57% of total sales, led by the group’s Eco townships.

The southern region, comprising Iskandar Malaysia, contributed RM1.97 billion, or 49% of total sales while the central region contributed RM1.79 billion, or 44%.

Including the RM1.01 billion agreement signed on Sept 22 with Tera Data Centers, its cumulative sales have exceeded RM5 billion for the first time. The deal involves the sale of two industrial land parcels spanning 222 acres in Eco Business Park VII in Negeri Sembilan.

RHB said EcoWorld’s Q3 results are in line and expects its performance to pick up in Q4, driven by higher progress billings from data centre land sales.

“The recent weakness in its share price presents a good opportunity to accumulate this fundamentally strong property stock,” said the research house, which maintained its “buy” call with a target price of RM2.66, a potential upside of 35% from the current price.

The stock closed 3 sen or 1.6% higher at RM1.97, valuing the group at RM6.37 billion. The shares have fallen 6% year to date.