KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Sunway Malls is seeing an accelerated and sustained recovery and is expected to return to pre-pandemic profitability in 2022 with a 17 per cent increase in its second quarter (Q2 FY2022) sales forecast versus Q2 FY2019.
The mall operator said this rise was achieved on better Raya 2022 sales, the transition to the endemic phase, improved labour market and stronger domestic and external demand, Sunway Malls & Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said in a statement today.
The mall operator said Q2 sales is also expected to surpass Q1 FY2022 sales by 17 per cent. Commenting on the projection, Chan said high Raya sales in 2022 provided “a significant, leading and comfortable start for Q2 2022” with the mall operator seeing nine months of uninterrupted sales.
On a monthly basis, Chan said April 2022 sales was 43 per cent higher than April 2019, May 2022 was 10 per cent higher than the same month two years ago with June 2022 sales is expected to parallel June 2019, Chan said.
He said April 2022 sales performance surpassed even January 2022 with Feb 1 and 2 being the first two days of Chinese New Year.
Chan said the group, with seven physical malls, is expecting 300 new shops to open following the expansion of Sunway Carnival as well as in its other retail properties.
“However, inflationary headwinds, food supply disruption, escalating energy cost, higher commodity prices and interest rates hike will weigh in over the short term. Over the longer term, the pace of private investment is expected to pick up in the coming quarters with investment activities projected to improve,” he said. — Bernama
