Gamuda posts record-high quarterly revenue

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Gamuda Bhd has reported a record-high revenue of RM1.01 billion for its fourth quarter ended July 31, 2017 (4QFY17), an increase of 64.9% compared with RM614.39 million a year earlier.

The group said the increase resulted mainly from the higher work progress of its construction projects as well as higher sales achieved by its property projects in Vietnam, namely Celadon City in Ho Chi Minh City and Gamuda City in Hanoi.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Gamuda said its net profit fell 32% to RM102.75 million or 4.2 sen per share, from RM152.1 million or 6.29 sen per share in 4QFY16.

The group explained that it took a one-off impairment amounting to RM98 million in 4QFY17, for the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) Expressway, as a result of lower-than-expected toll revenue projections in 2017.

Without the impairment, the group’s normalised pre-tax profit in 4QFY17 was actually 32.7% higher at RM278.9 million, the group said.

For FY17 as a whole, Gamuda reported a net profit of RM602.09 million or 24.78 sen per share, which is 3.8% lower than its FY16 net profit of RM626.13 million or 25.99 sen per share.

Revenue for FY17 was 51.35% higher at RM3.21 billion, compared with RM2.12 billion in FY16.

Giving an update on its projects, Gamuda said that for the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya mass rapid transit line, for which the firm is the project delivery partner via MMC Gamuda KVMRT (PDP) Sdn Bhd, the overall cumulative progress as at Aug 31 was 11% completion.

Up to mid-September, the group has awarded 36 work packages, comprising eight advance packages, 10 viaduct packages, one underground works package, seven systems packages, two designated supplier packages, two depot packages and six station nominated subcontractor packages.

On the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway in Sarawak, Gamuda shared that it is at 8.6% completion.

For its property division, Gamuda achieved a 14% increase in sales in FY17 to RM2.4 billion, from RM2.1 billion in FY16. The better performance was attributed to stronger overseas sales, especially in Vietnam, as well as local projects such as Horizon Hills in Iskandar Johor, Jade Hills in Kajang, The Robertson in Kuala Lumpur and Bukit Bantayan Residence in Kota Kinabalu.

The group’s existing and new projects have a remaining gross development value of RM55.14 billion.

As for expressways, Gamuda said that except for the SMART Expressway, which experienced lower-than-expected traffic, its other highways have been stable and resilient.

For its water division, Gamuda said that negotiations with the Selangor state government on the latter’s effort to acquire the water assets and operations of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH) are still ongoing. Gamuda has a 40% stake in SPLASH, which operates three water treatment plants.

Gamuda’s share price closed unchanged at RM5.29 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM12.98 billion.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Sept 29, 2017.

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