KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): Sunway Construction Group Bhd (SunCon)'s net profit grew 8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM36.41 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) from RM33.72 million on higher revenue.

Revenue rose 13% y-o-y to RM557.3 million from RM491.3 million, contributed by the better performance in both its construction and precast segments, the group's stock exchange filing today showed.

The construction segment's revenue grew 11% to RM524.1 million on higher civil works contribution, while profit before tax (PBT) rose 23% to RM48.8 million on the finalisation of an account for a completed project. PBT margin grew to 9.3% versus the year-ago quarter's 8.4%.

The precast segment's revenue jumped 69% to RM33.2 million on better progress from existing sales order. But the segment incurred a loss before tax of RM1.9 million versus a RM2.4 profit previously, as margin fell to -5.7% from 12.2% as current projects were pressured by higher steel bar prices and stiff competition on pricing.

For the cumulative nine months of the year (9MFY18), SunCon's net profit rose 5% y-o-y to RM108.12 million from RM103.41 million, as revenue grew 23% to RM1.63 billion from RM1.33 billion in 9MFY17.

In a media statement, SunCon group managing director Chung Soo Kiong said the group is confident of achieving its targeted new orders of RM1.5 billion for the year.  

"We will continue our effort to explore opportunities in Myanmar and India and hope to clinch our new contracts soon,” he said.

As at September this year, the group's outstanding order book amounted to RM5.2 billion, with a total of RM949 million in new orders in the first nine months of 2018, providing earnings visibility for the group for the next two years.

SunCon has also secured two new orders that amounted to RM405 million. With that, total new orders secured to-date stands at RM1.354 billion.   

“We remain focused on delivering our order book in hand and will continue to improve our operational efficiency to further improve our margins," Chung added.

SunCon shares closed 1 sen or 0.62% higher today at RM1.61, with a market capitalisation of RM2.08 billion.