KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Integrated technical service provider Dialog Group Bhd saw its net profit jumped 20.9% to RM143.71 million in the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2019 (3QFY19) from RM118.84 million a year ago, mainly due to cost savings realised on completed projects and increased share of profit in joint ventures and associates.

This resulted in a higher earnings per share of 2.55 sen for 3QFY19 compared with 2.11 sen for 3QFY18.

The better quarterly earnings was achieved despite a 26.6% fall in quarterly revenue to RM636.61 million from RM867.37 million in 3QFY18, on lower contribution from its Malaysian and international operations during the current quarter.

The group also declared an interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share for the financial year ending June 30, 2019 (FY19), payable on June 27.

For the cumulative nine months (9MFY19), the group's net profit fell by a marginal 1% to RM395.13 million from RM395.53 million a year ago, while revenue declined 22.6% to RM1.94 billion from RM2.5 billion in 9MFY18.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Dialog said it is confident that its performance will remain strong for FY19, adding that its diversified business model across the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry is well structured to manage oil price volatility and currency movements.

"We remain committed to enhancing efficiency and productivity by incorporating new technologies and improving business processes to remain competitive moving forward," it added.

In the upstream sector, the group continues to actively develop new reserves from existing contracts. At the same time, it is looking for viable production assets, which may become available for possible acquisition.

"Moving forward, the group will continue to grow its core businesses with recurring income, especially in its logistics services which includes storage tank terminals."

Shares in Dialog closed down one sen or 0.32% at RM3.07 today, with 11 million shares done, bringing a market capitalisation of RM17.32 billion.