Kerjaya Prospek's 3Q net profit up 19%, declares one sen dividend

• Kerjaya Prospek, which has four operating segments of construction, manufacturing, property development and investment, said that for 4QFY2022, the group will continue to monitor and implement appropriate business strategies in a timely manner to address the risk that post Covid-19 challenges, such as weakening of the ringgit and shortage of skilled manpower, may have on the operations and financial performance of the group.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): Property developer Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, saw its net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY2022) rise 19.1% to RM28.81 million from RM24.18 million a year earlier, mainly due to improvement in progress of construction work activities and profit margin.

Earnings per share also grew to 2.28 sen for 3QFY2022 from 1.95 sen for 3QFY2021.

Revenue for the quarter increased 16.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM259.4 million from RM222.64 million.

The group also declared a third interim dividend of one sen per share, payable on Jan 6, 2023. This brings total dividend for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022) to four sen per share.

The better quarterly performance lifted the group's net profit for the first nine months of 2022 (9MFY2022) to RM86.2 million, up 29.5% y-o-y from RM66.57 million, while revenue rose 22.9% y-o-y to RM836.91 million from RM681.21 million.

Kerjaya Prospek, which has four operating segments of construction, manufacturing, property development and investment, said that for 4QFY2022, the group will continue to monitor and implement appropriate business strategies in a timely manner to address the risk that post Covid-19 challenges, such as weakening of the ringgit and shortage of skilled manpower, may have on the operations and financial performance of the group.

The group has an outstanding order book of RM4.2 billion for construction contracts as at Sept 30, 2022.

In a separate statement, Kerjaya Prospek chief executive officer and executive director Tee Eng Tiong said the strong order book will provide earnings visibility over the next three years.

The large-scale projects that Kerjaya Prospek has secured include the RM1.5 billion contract from Texas Instruments Electronics Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which was awarded to the group’s joint venture with Samsung C&T (KL) Sdn Bhd.

“That bolstered our year-to-date contract wins to RM1.8 billion as at Sept 30, 2022,” Tee said.

The group also plans, under its property development segment, to launch another new development project at the beginning of 2023.

At noon market break, shares of Kerjaya Prospek closed unchanged at RM1.13, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.43 billion.