Sri Lanka’s premier blue chip, John Keells Holdings Plc is planning to launch a large residential project in the heart of Colombo early next month through a land it had recently acquired from Indra Holdings (Pvt) Ltd recently, The Sunday Observer learns.
According to informed sources, the new property venture known as Braybrook Residential Properties (Pvt) Ltd. located along Braybrooke Street is to be solely developed by JKH although a 50% ownership of the land will be retained by Indra Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.
“This large exciting novel venture is to be developed on the 1.5 acres plot of land JKH had purchased in September 2017 for Rs. 1.8 billion,” a reliable source told The Sunday Observer on the condition of anonymity. The source pointed out that the upcoming development may be by far the largest in terms of primarily residential properties for JKH. The completed projects in property development for JKH include Emperor, Monarch, OnThree20 and 7th Sense while work on the massive Integrated Resort, Cinnamon Life is presently underway.
Commenting on the realestate sector in JKH’s interim financials released recently, JKH Chairman, Susantha Ratnayake disclosed that work has commenced in identifying suitable lands with development potential in keeping with the Group’s strategy of creating a robust pipeline of new projects.
“The first of these new projects, being a large residential development in a prime location in Central Colombo, will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2017/18,” Chairman Ratnayake told stakeholders in the financial statements for the quarter ended 31st September 2017 released early this month. The diversified conglomerate last month purchased two land plots totaling 334-perches from Cargills (Ceylon) Plc at Dawson Street and Vauxhall Street in Colombo 2. According to the 2016/2017 Annual Report of Cargills, the Vauxhall Street plot is 1.5 acres (240 perches) with two buildings that were worth Rs. 2.34 billion. The Dawson Street plot is 94 perches worth Rs. 800.3 million. The interim financials of JKH for the September quarter showed that JKH’s addition to investment property during the period amounted to Rs 4.392 billion.
The JKH group reported that Profit After Tax (PAT) for the six months ended 31st September 2017 increased by 7% to Rs. 7 billion compared to the corresponding period in the previous year while the PAT during the September quarter declined by 4% to Rs.4 billion.