KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): Dialog Group Bhd’s net profit for its first quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (1QFY19) fell 29% to RM114.64 million from RM160.93 million a year ago on the absence of fair value gain and lower revenue from its Malaysian operations.

Earnings per share was down to 2.03 sen for 1QFY19 from 2.86 sen for 1QFY18.

Quarterly revenue shrank 11.3% to RM690.89 million from RM778.66 million a year ago due to lower downstream activities, particularly in engineering, construction and fabrication works.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Dialog said excluding the one-off gain of RM65.6 million recorded in the year-ago period, net profit actually improved to RM118.1 million from RM98.6 million. This was due to higher contribution from Dialog’s terminal and upstream activities, as well as realised cost savings from completed projects.

Going forward, the group is confident that its business is “well structured to manage oil price volatility and currency movements.”

“The ongoing operations of Pengerang Deepwater Terminals Phase 1 is currently being expanded by 430,000 cu m. Phase 2A, the dedicated petroleum and petrochemicals terminal for Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development, remains on track for full completion in early 2019,” Dialog said.

Meanwhile, the group is actively developing new reserves in the upstream sector from existing contracts. It is also looking for viable production assets which may become available for acquisition, it said.

Shares in Dialog fell 2 sen or 0.6% to close at RM3.32 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM18.73 billion.