KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): IGB Corp Bhd saw its net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14) jumped 45.16% to RM59.37 million or 4.43 sen a share from RM40.9 million or 2.92 sen a share a year ago on lower administrative expenses and finance costs.

Revenue for the quarter, however, retreated by 3.25% to RM301.69 million versus RM311.82 million in 4QFY13. 

IGB (fundamental: 1.05; valuation: 1.2) also declared an interim dividend of 10 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14), payable on March 27. In comparison, IGB paid a total of 7.5 sen dividend in FY13.

For the 12 months period, IGB's net profit rose 5% to RM218.11 million against RM207.71 million in FY13, while revenue increased 8.26% to RM1.18 billion from RM1.09 billion. 

Full year earnings per share stood at 16.29 sen compared with 14.81 sen in FY13. 

On prospects, IGB expects 2015 to be a challenging year. 

"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the board is cautiously optimistic that the better operational results seen in FY14 will carry through to 2015 and that the performance for the group for FY15 will be satisfactory," it added. 

IGB shares closed 3 sen or 1.11% higher at RM2.74 today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM3.64 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)