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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 16, 2018

AMPANG: Shareholders of T7 Global Bhd have given the green light to the oil and gas (O&G) outfit to dispose of its property in the UK for £5.75 million (RM31.45 million), as the group refocuses on its core operations and new ventures.

At an extraordinary general meeting yesterday, T7 chairman Datuk Seri Dr Nik Norzul Thani Hassan said proceeds from the disposal will be used to fund some of its ongoing projects.

“We have a few projects in line. We are lucky because our gearing is very low, but that doesn’t mean we are going to over-leverage. This money will be helping us with some of the projects we have initiated,” Nik Norzul said.

Out of the total proceeds to be raised, approximately RM12.47 million will be used for the supply of manpower in the contract awarded by Repsol Oil & Gas Malaysia Ltd, and RM8.56 million for Petronas Carigali’s operational reliability and integrity gauging instrument-based safeguard project.

Some RM3.31 million has been earmarked for funding the provisional manpower contract awarded by Sarawak Shell Bhd, while the balance will be used for working capital and to cover expenses related to the disposal.

Nik Norzul said the disposal is also in line with the group’s plan to focus on its three core businesses.

“At this moment in time, we want to focus on three major segments, which are O&G, aerospace and infrastructure development. This will keep us busy, [and] we don’t want to get the market confused by doing 10 different things,” he said.

Asked if the company is looking to sell other assets or operations, Nik Norzul said not for now, though the company is open to opportunities.

Going forward, T7 is upbeat about its prospects after it returned to the black in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017, supported by the jobs it had on hand.

“We are comfortable to say that we will remain in the black going forward. The real impetus would be when the aerospace factory is ready by next year, which will contribute RM180 million in revenue per year at full capacity,” Nik Norzul said.

The factory will hit full capacity some three to four years after completion, he added.

Meanwhile, T7 executive deputy chairman Tan Sri Tan Kean Soon said the group is actively bidding for contracts, with its tender book standing at RM3 billion.

“We are looking at infrastructure and construction projects. We have a joint venture with CCTE (China Construction Third Engineering [M] Sdn Bhd), which is eyeing railway projects.

“We have also formed another consortium of partnership with the Terengganu state government — via EPIC (Eastern Pacific Industrial Corp Bhd) — CMC Engineering Sdn Bhd and China State Construction Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd, which is specifically looking at the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.

“We will try to bid for some packages for the ECRL. Hopefully, we will secure one or two more jobs from our ongoing tenders. This year should be a good year for T7,” Tan said.

T7 Global shares were up 12.22% or 5.5 sen at 50.5 sen after 39.68 million shares were traded, with a market capitalisation of RM220.21 million.

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