Egypt’s leading real estate developer SODIC reported a net profit after tax of EGP 429 mn, up by 38% y-o-y for the full year ending on December 2016 compared to a year earlier, according to a report sent to Invest-Gate.
Revenues for the full-year period ending December 2016 increased by 40% to hit EGP 2,067 mn, the report states. The main contributors to revenue growth were the company’s Eastown Residences and Westown Residences, the report indicates. The report also shows that the gross profit margin for the full year reached 38% compared to 41% for 2015.
SODIC’s Managing Director Magued Sherif said: “2016 has been an exceptional year for SODIC. We remain positive about the future of the economy, believing that all measures taken were necessary and contingent to growth.”
Sherif added that his company would continue to develop quality products and deliver them on time, preserving the interests of all stakeholders and safeguarding client investments and shareholder value.
SODIC’s financial report states that the company’s balance sheet remains strong, supporting the existing project pipeline as well as future land acquisition endeavors. Cash and cash equivalents balance comes in at EGP 2.6 bn, while the company’s EGP 2.2 bn of bank facilities have been only 55% utilised, resulting in a positive net cash position at the end of the quarter, the report says.
During Q4 of FY2015-16 and following the Central Bank of Egypt’s decision to float the EGP exchange rate and the ensuing inflationary pressures, the real estate developer increased selling prices by 20%-30% and postponed all remaining planned launches for the year to 2017.
The quarter saw a strong uptick for existing inventory, ending the year by selling of 92% of the company’s residential inventory that had been launched during 2016.
As a result, SODIC recorded a strong quarter with EGP 2.4 bn of net contracted sales, a remarkable 63% growth versus the same quarter in 2015 with only one launch taking place, namely Eastown Parks. Sales of the full year exceeded the target by 17%.
Cancellations for the last quarter decreased to an all-time low of 2%, reaffirming the strong underlying demand for SODIC’s projects and bringing down the cancellation rate for the year to 5%, the company says in its report.
Cash collections reached EGP 3.1 bn during the year, a 31% increase compared to 2015 while delinquency rates remained at a low of 2%.
Deliveries for the year came in at 1,060 units, breaking the 1,000-unit mark for the first time and exceeding the company’s target for the year of 935 units. Deliveries in the first phases of Eastown commenced in May 2016 and accounted to 41% of the units delivered during the year.
The growing real estate developer has already launched two of the projects postponed from 2016’s last quarter: One16 in SODIC West and October Plaza on the 30 acre plot in 6th of October City, with more launches in West Cairo planned in the second half of the year.
Launches planned in East Cairo include the last phases of Eastown on road 90 in New Cairo and the first phase of Villette’s apartment buildings a few minutes away.
SODIC’s much-anticipated New Cairo mixed-use development on 655 acres lying between Suez and Ismailia desert roads will soon be launched, releasing the first offering in H2 of this year.