Grand Ming Group Holdings Limited (“Company”, together with its subsidiaries, collectively referred to as the “Group”; 1271.HK) announces its annual results for the year ended 31 March 2021 (FY 2020/21).
Highlights:
– Revenue amounted to HK$1,492.4 million, an increase of 65.3% from the previous financial year.
– Net profit was HK$149.0 million, representing an increase of 340.6%.
– Underlying profit, excluding the changes in fair value of investment properties, increased by 234.2% to HK$147.6 million.
– Proposed payment of final dividend of 4.0 HK cents per share.
– Stay positive toward lucrative business of owning and operating data centres via expanding portfolio of developing two new centres in near future.
– Seize opportunity to increase land reserve for property development in Hong Kong and cautiously explore property and property-related development opportunities in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China.
The Group’s consolidated revenue increased approximately 65.3% from approximately HK$902.6 million for FY 2019/20 to approximately HK$1,492.4 million for FY 2020/21. The increase was primarily driven by revenue recognised from the building construction project at Kai Tak which was in full swing operation during the FY 2020/21.
The Group’s underlying profit for FY 2021/21, excluding the changes in fair value of investment properties, amounted to approximately HK$147.6 million, representing an increase of approximately 234.2% as compared to an underlying profit of approximately HK$44.2 million for FY 2019/20. Underlying earnings per share were 10.4 HK cents (2020: 3.1 HK cents). The increase in profit mainly benefited from (i) an increase in revenue recognised from the construction segment; and (ii) sales of car parking spaces and one duplex residential unit on the top floor in the Cristallo project. Net profit for FY 2020/21 was approximately HK$149.0 million, representing an increase of approximately 340.6% when compared to that of approximately HK$33.8 million for FY 2019/20. Basic earnings per share were 10.5 HK cents (2020: 2.4 HK cents).
The Group believes a long-term high dividend policy is the best reward for our loyal shareholders. The Board now recommends paying a final dividend for FY 2020/21 of 4.0 HK cents per share. Together with the interim dividend of 4.0 HK cents per share, the total dividends for FY 2020/21 amounted to 8.0 HK cents per share, representing a payout ratio of approximately 77% (based on the total dividends and the Group’s profit for the year excluding the change in fair value of investment properties).
During FY 2020/21, revenue derived from the construction business increased by approximately 128% or approximately HK$636.6 million, from approximately HK$497.1 million for FY 2019/20 to approximately HK$1,133.7 million for FY 2020/21. The significant increase was primarily attributed to the construction project at Kai Tak, Kowloon which the construction works commenced in May 2019 and worked in full swing during FY 2020/21.
The data centre leasing business is resilient. The utilisation rate for the Group’s two high-tier data centre buildings, namely iTech Tower 1 and iTech Tower 2 remains high, driven by our expertise in data centre management providing uninterrupted customer services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue derived from this segment increased approximately 17.8% or HK$24.9 million, from approximately HK$139.8 million for FY 2019/20 to approximately HK$164.7 million for FY 2020/21, primarily driven by increased utilisation of iTech Tower 2 by committed customers.
In order to create a stable and growing cash flow stream, the Group is inclined to further diversify our footprint for high-tier data centres. In September 2020, the Group acquired two parcels of land in Fanling, New Territories for the purposes of developing into two new high-tier data centres. Application for the land-use change of these two parcels of land by way of land exchange is now underway.
The Group’s first residential property development project namely “The Grand Marine” at Tsing Yi, New Territories is being developed into two residential towers with clubhouse and car park facilities. It provides a saleable area of approximately 345,000 square feet for 776 residential units. Superstructure work had completed, followed by the facade and interior fitting-out works are now underway. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. This project received tremendous responses in the market since its pre-sale launched in November 2019. Approximately 89% of the residential units were sold cumulatively with presale proceeds of approximately HK$4.5 billion being recorded.
The Group’s luxury residential project, CRISTALLO, at No. 279 Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon was well sold. Sales and delivery of two apartments and six car parking spaces had been completed during the year, and revenue of approximately HK$194.0 million was recognized accordingly. Furthermore, six provisional sales and purchase agreements for six apartments totalling approximately HK$240 million had recorded. Sales and delivery of two apartments therein had been completed in May 2021 and completion of the remaining four apartments are scheduled to take place during the period from June 2021 to June 2022.
In order to increase its land bank, the Group completed the acquisition of land located at No.1 Luen Fat Street, Fanling, New Territories with a site area of approximately 6,800 square feet in January 2021. The Group plans to develop it into a residential-cum-retail property with a gross floor area of approximately 37,700 square feet and a land exchange application to convert the use of land is now under processing.
Mr. Chan Hung Ming, Chairman and Executive Director of Grand Ming Group Holdings concluded, “Year 2020 is a COVID-19 pandemic year casting challenge and impact to economies and businesses. With the imposition of effective measures against the pandemic including the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the pandemic situation is stabilized and a strong bounce in the residential property market in the first and second quarter of 2021 is recorded. We endeavored to sell the remaining units for properties ‘Cristallo’ and ‘Grand Marine’ in the spring boom, with ‘Grand Marine’ scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021. We are inclined to be more active recyclers of capital over the next few years with eyes on maintaining an optimal capital structure. On the one hand, we actively accumulate our land reserve in Hong Kong for the development and operation of high-tier data centres which are believed a continuous surging growth especially the work-from-home model prevails even post-pandemic period; as well as the development of residential property. Therefore, we add three parcels of land in Fanling, New Territories during the year to build up our land bank and development pipeline. On the other hand, we are evaluating the return and risk parameters for various property development and property-related projects in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China. We will also continue to monitor the pandemic situation while refining our long-term property development strategies.”
About Grand Ming Group Holdings Limited (1271.HK)
The Group is principally engaged in the business of building construction, property leasing and property development. As a local wholesale co-location provider of high-tier data centres, the Group is one of the dedicated service providers in Hong Kong which owns and uses the entire building for leasing to customers for data centre use. Its clientele includes multinational data centre operator, telecommunications company and financial institutions. The Group operates two high-tier data centre buildings, namely iTech Tower 1 and iTech Tower 2. It also acquired two pieces of land in Fanling, New Territories for developing into two high-tier data centres. Furthermore, the Group launches a residential development project namely “The Grand Marine” at Sai Shan Road, Tsing Yi, as well as a luxury residential project, Cristallo, at Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon. The Group also owns a piece of land at No.1 Luen Fat Street, Fanling, New Territories with a site area of approximately 6,800 square feet for developing into a residential-cum-retail property. With more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry, the Group also provides building construction services as a main contractor, and is involved in residential property development projects with prominent local developers, as well as offering alteration, renovation and fitting-out services for existing buildings in Hong Kong. https://www.grandming.com.hk/eng/intro.php
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Topic: Press release summary