Ananda Development PCL announces third quarter presales beating guidance by 52% resulting in record backlog of 54.4 billion Baht. Raises annual presales target by 5%. Expects to transfer almost 15 billion Baht in fourth quarter

          Ananda Development Public Company Limited announces strong presales in the third quarter of 9,645 million Baht, 52% above guidance of 6,350 million Baht. The company also raises its annual presales target by 5% to 32,588 million Baht. The company ended the quarter with a record backlog of 54.4 billion Baht due to transfer over the next 4 years, an increase of 9% from the previous quarter and 32% up from the same quarter a year earlier. 
          During the quarter the company launched 7.7 billion Baht of new projects. Comprising two new condominium projects and three housing projects. The projects launched were the 2.1 billion Baht Ideo Mobi Sukhumvit 40 condominium project near the Ekamai BTS station, the 2.4 billion Baht Ideo Mobi Rangnam, near the Victory Monument BTS station. The company also launched more housing projects, the 0.8 billion Baht Airi Rama 5-Ratchaphruek project, a new single detached house brand on Rama 5 Road, Nonthaburi province close to Bangkok, the 1.7 billion Baht Artale Kaset-Nawamin project, 13 kilometres to Thonglor and the 0.8 billion Baht Atoll Wongwaen-Lumlukka project, lumlukka near BTS Green Line.
          Including sales from previously launched projects the company generated total presales for the quarter of 9,645 billion Baht, 52% greater than the guidance of 6,350 million baht. This was partly due to stronger than expected demand and partly due to the movement of 4.4 billion Baht of projects that were launched in Q3 instead of the original schedule of Q4. The company ended the quarter with a record backlog of 54.4 billion Baht due to transfer over the next 4 years, an increase of 9% from the previous quarter and 32% up from the same quarter a year earlier.
          Third quarter total revenue was 2,759 million Baht a decrease of 7% over the same quarter last year comprising revenue from sales of real estate of 1.7 billion Baht, and other income of 1,066 million Baht mostly in the form of management fee payments from the joint ventures. The company's net profits were 141 million Baht for the quarter, a decrease of 44% year on year mostly due to the lower revenue and higher launches for the quarter.
          In the fourth quarter of the year, the company targets almost 15 billion Baht in transfers at around 14.8 billion, which results in its quarterly transfer being 64% of its annual transfer target of 23 billion. This target represents an increase of 45% over 2016's total and continues delivering the results the company expected as part of its ""harvest period.
          Mr. Chanond Ruangkritya, CEO of Ananda, said, ""We're delighted to have exceeded our quarterly presales target in the quarter. In the first ninth months of the year, we have already reached 77% of our annual presales target and we still have 2 planned projects to be launched this year. We continue relentless focus on customer needs providing convenience through the location next to the mass transit lines and continuously introducing new technology to improve the quality of urban life while ensuring that nature is integrated into the projects while maintaining competitive pricing.""
          Mr. Chanond Ruangkritya, CEO of Ananda, said, "We continue an exciting period for Ananda we refer to as our ""Harvest Period"", the 65% growth target for 2016 was already achieved last year and the company plans achieving its targeted 45% growth in transfers in 2017 to 23 billion Baht. We have backlog to be transferred in 2017 of 13.7 billion Baht, including Ananda and Mitsui's share of joint ventures which represents 93% of the last quarter of 2017 transfer target.""
          Mr. Chanond Ruangkritya, CEO of Ananda, said, ""We have maintained financial discipline and achieved this growth without adding risk and maintained our net interest bearing debt to equity at only 0.84:1, slightly below our long term target of 1:1""
          Mr. Chanond Ruangkritya continued, ""Our cash flow remains strong and we have maintained a large cash balance with over 1.4 billion Baht in cash at the end of the quarter. We have continued to have strong support from our banks and have multiple options in place to fund the cash needs of the company through the year depending on how the situation evolves. Our financial discipline has been recognized by the market as in October 2017, we issued a 2 billion Baht bond with a tenor 3 years at a rate of only 3.50%, record low cost of bond, down from 3.95% issued in April this year and significantly down from the 5.40% rate of our issued 3-year tenor bond in the last 3 years.""
          The company also released its initial business plan for 2018. It stated that it expects to see transfers from real estate increase by 76% next year with the contribution from 11 new condominium buildings finishing construction and beginning to transfer in 2018 in addition to remaining units from the 10 condominiums finishing in 2017. This leads the company to expect total residential transfers of around 40.5 billion Baht, up from an expected 23 billion Baht this year. 
          Due to the company's capital cycle the year will see an increase in new projects launched with a total project value of new launches projected to increase by 15% up to 48 billion Baht in 2018 compared to 41.8 billion Baht in 2017. The company will launch 22 new projects. 13 of the projects will be condos, 7 of which will be joint ventures and 9 projects will be housing. The rise in launch value means the company expects total presales for the year to increase by 24% to 40.5 billion Baht in 2018 compared to 32.6 billion this year.
          The company expects to keep its preferred measure of leverage, Net Interest Bearing Debt to Equity, at 1:1 for the year, exactly at management's long term target.
          Mr. Chanond Ruangkritya, CEO of Ananda, said, "We are delighted to continue maintaining our growth and performance while maintaining a strong discipline on costs and borrowing. Ananda is the market leader in urban living solutions in the Thai market and through the constant innovations in both building design and every other aspect of real estate development we aim to maintain our leadership in the condominium market. 2018 is the continuation of what we refer to as our ""Harvest Period"". We are beginning to see the investment made after the IPO come through as rapid growth in transfers. We have eleven condominium buildings finishing construction and beginning to transfer in 2018 compare to ten condominium finishing in 2017.""
          He concluded, ""The Company is also very proud that its commitment to the best possible corporate governance and transparency has resulted in the Company's corporate governance rating issued by the Stock Exchange of Thailand being upgraded from the previous ""Very good"" corporate governance scoring (4-star) to ""Excellent"" corporate governance scoring (5-star). 
          The Company is also very pleased that its efforts to communicate fully and transparently to domestic and international investors has been recognized with the company being nominated for Best Investor Relations 2017 by the Stock Exchange of Thailand and also being nominated for South East Asia Awards 2017 for Best in sector – real estate by IR Magazine.""