Following a tough 2008/09 financial year, which saw Sunland announce their first annual loss at $145m, the last 12 months have seen the local developer recover, posting an $18.3m profit for the last financial year.

Rather than pay a dividend to shareholders, the company is looking to the long-term and has elected to continue buying back shares, with plans to purchase another 20% of its own stock in the near future.

CVC has sold 24.7 million shares back to Sunland – approximately 10% of their issued capital.  CVC chairman and long-time board member, John Leaver simultaneously has resigned as a Sunland director after 16 years on the board.

CVC are believed to have sought to sell their entire holding (of which 3.9 million shares remain) but Sunland have reached their buy-back capacity.  The move won’t affect Sunland’s day-to-day operations.

In a lavish evening at Palazzo Versace, Sunland gave a host of industry insiders a look into their plans for the coming year.

It will be a busy year for the local developer, and recent acquisitions – like land at Royal Pines and The Glades feature prominently.  It also marks a continuation of Sunland’s return to townhouse development – with a vast majority of the projects consisting of houses and townhouses.

The only high rise featured was a project on Marine Parade in Labrador, slated for launch in December of 2010.

In total, there are nine projects slated for launch in south-east Queensland in 2010, totalling 943 homes with a value over $510m.

Following last year’s purchase of a 17ha riverfront development site at Royal Pines, Sunland are beginning earthwork on their latest Gold Coast project.  The site is slated for a revamped marina and market precinct as well as apartments, townhouses and house sites.

A limited number of home sites have already been released and sold briskly, with further releases planned for early 2010.

It is reported that Sunland have purchased Thakral’s remaining development sites at The Glades in Robina.  A price has not been disclosed at this stage.

The four parcels of land, scattered throughout the estate are slated for future townhouse and apartment blocks – with some plans already in place for the future developments.

Sunland (among others) are also believed to be in negotiation with Thakral over the purchase of a number of their other sites, including Alchemy in Broadbeach and their large Budds Beach development parcel.

After months in limbo, the jointly Foresight Acquisitions and City Pacific-owned Pacific Beach site in Surfers Paradise has reported been sold.

A Chinese consortium beat local developer Sunland to the property – but at this stage a price has not been disclosed.

The 11,000sqm site on the corner of Wharf and Old Burleigh Roads is the largest beachfront site amalgamated in recent years and the sale represents a significant expression of confidence in the local market.

Whether the Chinese group will continue with the existing approved development plans or apply for changes is not yet known.  One interesting fact is though: The group has obtained approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to sell 100% of the project to overseas buyers (as opposed to the usual 50%) – suggesting that they plan to make a considerable number of sales in their home market.

In a move in line with Thakral Holding’s recent shift away from property development and towards their core business of hotel and commercial management, they are divesting of around 10 hectares of remaining undeveloped land at The Glades in Robina.

The $500m golf course development has four remaning undeveloped parcels, which have been offered in an off-market expression of interest campaign to a number of developers.

The final result of the campaign is as yet unknown, however it is rumoured that local developers Sunland are among the group who have made offers on some of the remaining land.

After the purchase of just over $28m of riverfront and golf-front land at Royal Pines Resort in December, Sunland has commenced earthworks on the first residential stage of what it hopes will be seen as its next ‘flagship’ development on the Gold Coast.

The release is expected to include nine residential housing and three duplex blocks.  At this stage it will hit the market in July.

Progress is also being made on the redevelopment of a new masterplan for Royal Pines’ marina precinct.  At just under 17 hectares in size, the marina is expected to include restaurants, cafes, convenience shopping, a new gymnasium, and a fresh-food market, similar in concept to the Ferry Road Markets as well as up to 150 new residential properties.

Following the collapse of a joint venture on a $2.2bn tower project in Dubai, Sunland has conducted a major writedown of their assets in the Emirate – $130m relating to the aforementioned project, another $60m elsewhere in Dubai and $10m relating to Australian assets.

This $200m slashing has seen the company project an annual loss of over $130m.

Despite this, Sunland shares have performed strongly in recent days, bouyed largely by news that the company is engaging in a share buyback of upt to 10% of the company’s stock.

In what could be at the very least bad publicity and at worst a scandal for Sunland, reports are circulating that David Brown – the company’s Chief Operating Officer in the Middle East – has been interrogated a number of times by Dubai authorities regarding a bribery charge, and has had his passport confiscated.

The alleged bribe concerns millions of dollars of consultancy fees that Sunland paid to Dubai’s state-owned developer Nakheel and a third party regarding the purchase of a waterfront property in the Emirate.  Two other men, a current and a former executive at Nakheel have been arrested for their involvement in the alleged crime.

In a media release to the ASX today, Sunland have stated that Mr. Brown is merely a witness to the investigation and has not been interrogated or held as some reports have claimed.  The statement went on to say that:

“Sunland fully supports the Dubai government’s commitment to ensure the region’s property market is transparent. We will continue to provide assistance where required.”

“Maintaining the highest ethical standards in all our dealings has long been a core value of Sunland.”

While it’s not yet clear what impact proceedings will have on Sunland’s Gold Coast business, the news is a blow for the company which had been weathering the current economic difficulties more comfortably than a number of it’s competitors.