KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Dredging Bhd says it wants to offload the remainder of its unsold properties from completed projects in Singapore and Malaysia, which were valued at RM111 million as at end-March this year, according to managing director Teh Lip Kim.

“We are looking to sell our current stock and inventories. We have sold 95% to 97%, so we only have a little left to sell,” Teh said, adding that some of its projects have seen 70% of the units offered sold.

Meanwhile, she said the group’s unbilled sales from ongoing projects totalled about RM250 million, adding the group is not in a rush to buy more land as it wants to be prudent when it comes to future developments and be selective when it comes to future projects.

She also said the group does not have any new launches planned now, though it is looking at projects with landed properties that are below the RM700,000 range, with high-rise offerings of RM500,000 or lower, as units in that price range have seen greatest market interest.

“We are still studying which areas to go into,” Teh said, adding financing problems remain a problem among its potential property buyers.

As for the group’s mining division, Teh said the group is looking to raise the monthly output of its Bukit Besi iron ore plant in Terengganu to 30,000 tonnes from the current 20,000 tonnes.

The group said it wants to push output as much as possible as its processing facility is now running more smoothly than when it was first acquired, Teh said, adding that the commodity now fetches around US$90 (RM379) per tonne, while cost of production is at around US$40, giving a healthy profit margin of near 60%.

“We are positive about the mining segment. The business is steady given the fact that there is an ongoing trade war ... ,” said Teh.

She also said the group is not looking to inject more capital into its mining segment, as it has raised enough from the listing of its 37%-owned associate Fortress Minerals Ltd on the Singapore Exchange, which resulted in a net gain of RM11.45 million for the group. Fortress also contributed RM7.08 million in net profit to the group for its financial year ended March 31, 2019 (FY19).

On reports that the group has received offers to sell its Hotel Maya in Jalan Ampang here, Teh said the group is not looking to dispose of the hotel at this juncture.

“If the offer comes in, as a director [of the company], we have to look at it. Then we have to decide whether we want to sell or not — not that we are actively selling. But it is our duty to receive and see the offers if people want to buy, and we have to discuss it among ourselves. At the moment, we are refurbishing the hotel, so it doesn’t look like we are selling,” she said.

The group’s FY19 net profit declined 42% year-on-year to RM24.42 million from RM41.85 million, which pulled earnings per share down to 5.73 sen from 9.82 sen, despite revenue growing 70% to RM256.13 million from RM151.05 million.

It attributed the higher revenue to the conversion of existing property stock into sales, while its lower full-year net profit was on account of an absence of an one-off disposal gain, as the group’s FY18 had booked in gains from the RM480 million disposal of Wisma Selangor Dredging.