KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): Shares of Willowglen MSC Bhd fell 6.09% in the morning session after supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) supplier said it expects financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18) to be a “testing” year, due to client-induced project delays.

The stock fell 7 sen to RM1.08, with 319,300 shares done as at 12.28pm.

“This year, I am not too sure, it could be quite a testing year. We should be all right in the longer term, [but] in the immediate term, there [could be] not much improvement, compared [with] last year, it could be even worse,” group managing director Wong Ah Chiew told reporters, after Willowglen’s annual and extraordinary general meetings held here yesterday, when asked about the group’s outlook for the year.

This is mainly due to issues in project execution and delaying of awards from clients who are still resolving technical issues, especially those that are infrastructure-related, said Ah Chiew’s son Simon, who is also executive director of the group.

Indeed, in a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, Willowglen said net profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018 (1QFY18) halved to RM2.20 million, from RM4.98 million previously, while revenue contracted 7.12% to RM35.59 million, from RM38.32 million.

Earnings per share stood at 0.9 sen, compared with 2.05 sen in the corresponding quarter last year.

In notes accompanying its financial results, the group attributed weaker quarterly performance to the drop in revenue at its Malaysian operations, because of “the delay in [awarding] many projects tendered”, reduced margins, as well as higher manpower expenses.