Centum Real Estate Limited has posted a 72% decline in profit after tax for the period ended 31st March 2021 to Kes 650 million from Kes 2.30 billion recorded during the same period in 2020.
Despite the decline, the real estate company attributed the profits to income from residential units, sales of bulk land and development rights and gains on investment properties.
Centum Real Estate reported a 20% rise in customer deposits from Kes 1.5 billion in the previous year to Kes 1.8 billion during the period ended 31st March 2021.
The Group’s total assets amounted to Kes 40 billion as of 31 March 2021, funded by shareholder equity of Kes 23.4 billion and Kes 6.7 billion in borrowings.
Centum reported they sold 1,281 residential units with a total sale value of Kes 11.5 billion, representing 63% of the total units either completed, under construction or under market validation and collected Kes 3.7 billion as cumulative deposits Kes 7.8 billion being the cash due on the pre–sales.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company has not been immune to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the pandemic resulted in a slowdown in residential units sales in the first quarter of the year and operational disruptions in some of the sites, particularly in Uganda.
Centum Real Estate Outlook.
Centum has expressed optimism in the company’s financial performance, saying they have currently approved a pipeline of 4,528 homes for development in Kenya and Uganda. Of these, 96 have been completed, and a further 1,952 are either under construction or market validation.
Additionally, the company said they are on course to completing the construction of 524 homes in the financial year ending 31 March 2022 and a further 1,426 in the subsequent financial year. The revenue potential of this total pipeline is Kes 17.9 billion, which can be expected to reflect in their income statement progressively from the financial year ending 31 March 2022.
The real estate company also stated they recently launched the sale of development rights for single–family homes in Vipingo and Pearl Marina, with an expected revenue potential of Kes 3.6 billion.
“We can expect the sale of development rights to be a key driver of our performance looking forward, given the level of activity on both nodes and the level of expressions of interest received”. Centum in their financial results.
The board of directors did not recommend the payment of dividends.
Read also; Chris Kirubi Buys more Centum Shares Valued at Kes 92 Million, Raising Stake by 20%.
