KUALA LUMPUR: Gamuda Bhd anticipates the year’s performance will be driven by overseas construction activities as projects in Australia and Taiwan continue to pick up pace.
Meanwhile, it said it will register full-year contribution of the newly acquired Australian transport projects business of Downer Transports Projects, and property sales, including higher contribution from newly launched quick-turnaround projects (QTP) of the property division.
“Moving forward, the resilience of the Group is underpinned by a large construction orderbook of RM24bil and unbilled property sales of RM6.7bil.
“On top of that, the group has a healthy balance sheet with a comfortable net gearing of 29%, well below its self-imposed gearing limit of 70%,” it said in comments accompanying its results filing with Bursa Malaysia.
In the second quarter ended Jan 31, 2024, Gamuda posted a net profit of RM208.8mil, up from RM194.62mil in the year-ago quarter, bringing its earnings per share higher to 7.65 sen from 7.46 sen previously.
The group reported revenue of RM3.33bil against RM1.44bil in the comparative quarter.
Gamuda said its overseas projects filled the gap left by the decline in domestic revenue and earnings. “Gamuda Engineering’s overseas quarterly revenue tripled and net profit more than doubled,” it said.
For the six months period, Gamuda said net profit was RM403.84mil compared to RM1.36bil in 1HFY23. Excluding highway earnings, the group said core net profit rose 19% year-on-year during the six months period, driven by stronger overseas performance on the construction and property divisions
Meanwhile, the group’s revenue rose to RM6.14bil from RM2.75bil in the year-ago period.