Gamuda bullish about prospects

Petaling Jaya: After a record-breaking performance for the financial year 2022 (FY22), Gamuda Bhd is optimistic about the current FY23 as it expects business to be driven by property sales, pick up in work progress in Australia, and works to complete the Mass Rapid Transit Putrajaya Line.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the engineering, property and infrastructure group said moving forward, its resilience is underpinned by its large construction order book of nearly RM14bil and unbilled property sales of RM6.2bil.

The completion of the sale of four highways to Amanat Lebuhraya Rakyat Bhd by October 2022 would also lift the group.

Also, Gamuda has a healthy balance sheet with a currently low gearing of 0.1 times, which will turn net cash positive upon completion of the highway sale.

“The Malaysian economy is recovering as the country moves towards Covid-19 endemicity with the reopening of international borders, steady recovery in labour market and ongoing policy support,” said the group.

Gamuda also said public spending and stimulus for infrastructure development constrained by rising government fiscal burden may see some momentum with the government’s revival of public-private partnerships.

For its fourth quarter ended July 31, 2022 (4Q22), group net profit jumped 20% year-on-year to RM255.24mil while revenue rose 124% to RM1.87bil.

For 4Q22, earnings per share was 9.99 sen versus 8.47 sen a year earlier.

The better financial results was due to stronger construction and property earnings.

For its full financial year (FY22), net profit jumped 37% to an all-time high of RM806.225mil while revenue rose 51% to RM4.92bil. For FY22, earnings per share was 31.96 sen versus 23.42 sen a year earlier.

The group’s profit before tax crossed RM1bil for the first time, on the back of stronger construction and property earnings.

Gamuda Engineering’s full year net profit also achieved an all-time high of RM343mil.

Overseas earnings tripled to RM292mil, and Gamuda said this followed its strategic move to expand its overseas market footprint in the engineering and property sectors.

Gamuda said it was a record-breaking year for the property division with all-time-high performances in sales, revenue and earnings.

Local property sales doubled to RM2bil as overseas projects contributed another RM2bil in sales.

“Overseas sales especially in Vietnam and Singapore remained strong,” said the group.

Gamuda pointed out that as foreign investments continue to flow strongly into Vietnam, the real estate market has been positively impacted thanks to the improvement in the people’s disposable income as well as their future income expectations.

“The trend of urbanisation and the rise of the middle class has brought about positive results for both Celadon City in Ho Chi Minh City and Gamuda City in Hanoi,” said the group.

As Celadon City wraps up its launches, Gamuda Land’s prospects in Vietnam will be replenished by upcoming commercial and residential developments in Gamuda City as well as newer developments such as Artisan Park, located in Binh Duong New City, just outside of Ho Chi Minh City.

The 13.8-acre development is expected to launch in the current financial quarter (1Q23).

Meanwhile, OLA Residences, Gamuda’s executive condominium in Singapore is fully sold with a total gross development value of S$660mil (RM2.133bil).

In Australia, Gamuda Land has acquired its second parcel in Melbourne’s inner ring located on Normanby Road for a community focused mixed-use development featuring biophilic design.

Plans are in place to launch the project in Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Vietnam simultaneously in FY23.

Sales at 661 Chapel Street residential tower in Melbourne is on-going.

Meanwhile, Gamuda Land’s latest development in West Hampstead, London was introduced in June 2022.

West Hampstead is expected to deliver positively to Gamuda Land in the coming months.

Regarding its renewable energy (RE) plans, Gamuda said besides the installation of RE supply at its premises and projects, the group is aiming to explore potential RE developments such as utility-scale solar and hydroelectric projects.

Gamuda is also aiming to develop over 300 megawatt of its own RE assets in the next few years, in line with the group’s clean energy growth plan.