Sunway’s 2Q net profit up 30%, declares 5 sen dividend

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Sunway Bhd chalked up 30% growth on its net profit for its second financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) to RM237.91 million, or 13.54 sen a share, from RM182.53 million, or 10.59 sen a share, a year ago.

The impressive jump on earnings was mainly due to the higher fair value gain recorded by Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT).

The group’s revenue, however, dropped 13.6% in 2QFY15 to RM1.04 billion, from RM1.2 billion a year ago as a result of the higher elimination of intra-group construction revenue which increased by RM230 million in the current quarter and the lower revenue from the trading and manufacturing segment.

The group also proposed a dividend of five sen per share, to be paid on a date to be determined later.

For the first half ended June 30, 2015 (1HFY15), Sunway reported a 34.2% increase in net profit to RM384.45 million or 22.03 sen per share from RM286.52 million or 16.62 sen a share in 1HFY14, boosted by the realised capital gains of RM22.9 million from the sale of two properties in the first quarter and the share of higher fair value gain recorded by Sunway REIT.

Revenue for 1HFY15 fell 5.8% to RM2.1 billion, from RM2.23 billion a year ago, due to the higher elimination of intra-group construction revenue.

Going forward, Sunway said it will continue to adopt a cautious business strategy and strengthen its operational efficiency to meet the economic challenges ahead.

Sunway's share price closed unchanged at RM3.40 today, with a market capitalisation of RM5.98 billion.