MRCB 1Q net profit more than doubles, thanks to engineering segment

KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd's net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 (1QFY18) more than doubled to RM21.53 million compared to RM8.64 million in the previous year, thanks to a stronger performance from the engineering, construction and environment division.

Earnings per share rose to 0.49 sen versus 0.4 sen per share in 1QFY17, while revenue fell by 18% to RM427.6 million from RM519.84 million a year ago.

"The better profit performance was driven by continued growth in our engineering, construction and environment division, which should be a significant contributor to group profits this year, where we still have a significant unbilled order book of RM4.9 billion, and our strategy of targeting fee-based construction projects is now bearing fruit," MRCB group managing director Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said in a statement today.

MRCB said the engineering, construction and environment division saw operating profit increase 12-fold to RM16 million during the period, mainly due to the progress of the group's ongoing projects and other value engineering initiatives implemented to manage construction costs.

"Accompanying the division's stronger performance was an RM8.9 million profit after tax earned from its 50%-owned LRT3 Project Delivery Partner joint venture company," the group said.

It added that MRCB's external client construction order book currently totals RM6.2 billion.

The property development and investment division, however, recorded a 7.2% decrease in revenue to RM222.4 million, and saw operating profit fall to RM24.1 million from RM47.9 million in the corresponding period in 2017.

Meanwhile, as at the end of the first quarter of 2018, unbilled property sales totalled RM1.6 billion.

MRCB shares closed down 11.5 sen or 16.79% to 57 sen with 52.5 million shares done, for a market capitalisation of RM2.46 billion. Year to date the stock has fallen 51%. — theedgemarkets.com

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