Gamuda Q3 earnings jump three-fold

25 Jun 2021 | The Star

With the continued progress of MRT Putrajaya Line, which is nearing completion, the Group’s performance in the current year to also be driven by overseas property sales, especially from Vietnam and Singapore.

PETALING JAYA: After several consecutive quarters of declining profit on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, Gamuda Bhd ’s net profit for the third quarter ended April 30, 2021 leapt more than three-fold to RM141.83mil, led by stronger profitability of its construction, property and toll concession businesses.

In comparison, the group recorded a net profit of RM40.23mil in the same quarter a year earlier. According to Gamuda, the pace of construction and property projects and traffic on its expressways were returning to pre-movement restriction levels.

“Last year’s low quarterly net profits coincided with the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with Malaysia imposing a then-unprecedented movement control order with effect from March 18, 2020, ” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

The group’s revenue for the third quarter rose by 76.6% from RM549.9mil to RM971.18mil.

While the biggest revenue contributor – the construction segment – witnessed a 27% y-o-y drop in topline to RM507.29mil, the revenue from the property business surged by more than two folds to RM468.4mil.

The concession segment reported a 2% y-o-y increase in revenue.

Meanwhile, based on a breakdown by the geographical markets, Gamuda’s domestic revenue fell by almost 10% y-o-y to RM778.98mil. Contribution from overseas markets increased by 131% y-o-y to RM295.69mil.

Gamuda reported an earnings per share of 5.64 sen for the latest third quarter. The group did not announce a dividend for the three-month period.

Cumulatively, for the nine-month period ended April 30, net profit fell by 3.8% y-o-y to RM374.23mil. Revenue dropped by 3.9% y-o-y to RM2.63bil.

“Property sales jumped by 83%. Overseas sales, especially Vietnam and Singapore, continued to spearhead the group’s property division, contributing two-thirds of overall sales.

“The property division sold RM2.2bil worth of properties in the first three quarters of this year compared with RM1.2bil in the same period last year, ” according to Gamuda.

Looking ahead, the group expects its performance in the current year to be driven by overseas property sales, especially from Vietnam and Singapore, and the continued progress of MRT Putrajaya Line, which is nearing completion. The Putrajaya Line was formerly called MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line.

In addition, Gamuda said its resilience will be underpinned by its construction order book of RM4.9bil and unbilled property sales totalling RM4bil, which will last through the next two years.

The group also has a healthy balance sheet with a gearing level of below 0.3 times.

On the outlook of its business operations in Australia, Gamuda said it is actively bidding for multi-billion ringgit worth of projects in the country. The group has been shortlisted for the A$5bil (RM15bil) Sydney Metro West Project (Central and West packages) tender.

“The Central package outcome is expected in the third quarter of 2021, while the West package outcome is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021, ” it said.

Gamuda is also shortlisted for the A$2.5bil (RM7.5bil) Western Sydney Airport Metro line (Station Box and Tunnelling package).

The outcome is expected in the fourth quarter.