PETALING JAYA: Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd expects to win new construction tenders for data centres and semiconductor factories by the third or fourth quarter of this year.
“Some (of the tenders) are in the pre-qualification stage, and some are ongoing tenders.
“So we will see if we can win the job or not,” its chief executive officer Tee Eng Tiong told StarBiz after Kerjaya Prospek’s results briefing here yesterday.
The group is also bidding for two other projects in data centre and semiconductor factories together with its consortium partner Samsung C&T Corp.
The joint venture (JV) is a 70:30 basis, comprising Samsung C&T (KL) Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung C&T Corp, and Kerjaya Prospek’s wholly-owned subsidiary Kerjaya Prospek (M) Sdn Bhd.
Two years ago, Kerjaya Prospek bagged a RM1.45bil contract via its Samsung JV for the execution and completion of a factory at the Batu Berendam Free Trade Zone in Melaka from Texas Instruments Electronics Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
The project is slated for completion in March 2025.
Additionally, Tee said Kerjaya Prospek would be selective in terms of projects and would place more focus on projects with higher margins.
On potential issues, Tee said the diesel subsidy rationalisation would only have a slight impact on its operations.
“But the issue of petrol subsidy will definitely have an impact,” he said.
He added that Kerjaya Prospek had sufficient manpower, comprising about 4,500 foreign workers from a total workforce of 7,000.
It had secured RM979mil worth of projects, equivalent to 65.3% of its RM1.5bil target contract wins for 2024.
“This translates to a robust outstanding order book of about RM4.5bil, which will provide us with financial visibility over the next couple of years,” he added.
Kerjaya Prospek closed its first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) on March 31, 2024 with a net profit of RM33.55mil, equivalent to an earnings per share of 2.66 sen, as well as a revenue of RM337.14mil.
Its construction segment continued to be the main contributor for its external revenue at RM329.18mil, followed by its property development segment and manufacturing and others segment at RM7.35mil and RM609,000, respectively.
The group declared a first-interim single-tier dividend of 2.5 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2024 (FY24) and is expected to distribute a dividend payout of slightly below 5% for FY24 as compared to 4.8% declared in FY23.