KUALA LUMPUR: Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) is looking at RM300 million worth of sales from trimming its unsold and completed properties in its current financial year ending March 31, 2020 (FY20), according to senior general manager Yeonzon Yeow.

This will mainly be from the group’s Seri Tanjung Pinang development in Penang, Yeow told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting yesterday.

“The new launches from The Peak and The Conlay will then drive our unbilled sales, because our strategy for the past three years is not conducting new launches but focusing on our existing inventory,” he said.

The group’s inventory level was at RM215 million — at cost — as at end-FY19, while its unbilled sales stood at RM61.3 million, of which 94% were from Penang while the balance were from the Klang Valley.

Meanwhile, Yeow shared that occupancy rate of the group’s Eastern & Oriental Hotel (E&O Hotel) in Penang was above 80%, while its E&O Residences in Kuala Lumpur had an average occupancy rate of above 70%.

He added that for FY20, the group plans to spend RM40 million to refurbish E&O Hotel.

As for the group’s The Conlay development, Yeow updated that it is set to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, while The Peak is slated to be introduced in early 2020.

The Conlay, with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM896 million and located on a 0.58ha site at the intersection of Jalan Conlay and Jalan Kia Peng, is the group’s second high-rise joint-venture project with Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd. The Peak, on the other hand, is a residential development that carries an estimated GDV of RM280 million and located at an elevated 1.54ha site in Damansara Heights.

On the potential sale of the group’s Straits Quay Mall, managing director Kok Tuck Cheong said it is not the best time to dispose of the mall at this juncture, as the group would not be able to get the right value for it.

“We will continue to manage it and see how the market moves. Certainly, if there is [an offer to buy the mall], an attractive offer, we will look at it,” said Kok.

As for the land reclamation for the first portion of the second phase of the STP project, the group is targeting to hand over the site to the Penang government at year end, Kok said, adding work on STP is now 99% done while the reclamation work on Gurney Wharf is completed.

When asked, Kok also said E&O is not interested in bidding for the Tanjung Rhu Resort and Langkawi land linked to Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli, as the group wants to focus on the STP project.

The Edge Financial Daily reported on Monday that the receivers and managers of Tanjung Rhu Land Sdn Bhd and Reka Intisari Sdn Bhd — two companies linked to former corporate high-flyer Tajudin — have again called for expressions of interest for the 136-room luxury Tanjung Rhu Resort and the 1,000 acres (404.69ha) of land surrounding it, after a failed last-minute attempt by the debtor to settle its debt. The assets are reportedly worth an estimated RM2 billion.