KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): IJM Corp Bhd saw its net profit drop 26.7% to RM101.36 million in the third financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (3QFY18), from RM138.36 million a year ago, mainly due to lower contributions from its property and manufacturing and quarrying divisions.

This was further compounded by a net foreign exchange (forex) loss of RM4.5 million, compared with a net forex gain of RM3.9 million in 3QFY17.  

This resulted in a lower earnings per share of 2.79 sen in 3QFY18, compared with 3.84 sen in 3QFY17.

Quarterly revenue also slipped 1.9% to RM1.57 billion, from RM1.6 billion a year ago, on lower contribution from its construction and manufacturing and quarrying divisions.

The weak quarterly results dragged IJM's net profit down by 18.9% to RM338.62 million for the cumulative nine months (9MFY18), from RM417.77 million a year ago. Revenue, however, rose 5.3% to RM4.63 billion in 9MFY18, from RM4.4 billion in the previous corresponding period.

On prospects, IJM chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon said it has secured RM2.7 billion worth of order book wins for 9MFY18, which included projects at Tun Razak Exchange here.

"In India, we recently announced the award of the RM1.5 billion Solapur-Bijapur tollway concession. These new contracts, underpinned by local infrastructure projects, as well as a steady pipeline of large public infrastructure projects spurred by government initiatives, have helped expand our outstanding order book to a near-record high of RM9.3 billion," Soam added.

He said the group is on track to achieve its sales target of RM1.6 billion for FY18, on the back of positive response to its townships in Bandar Rimbayu and Seremban 2, as well as recent launches.

"The group’s property division expects to sustain its performance on the back of unbilled sales of around RM1.9 billion," Soam said. The group expects reasonable performance for FY18, he added.

IJM shares gained six sen or 2.11% to close at RM2.90 today, with 2.12 million shares traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM10.5 billion.