KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Dialog Group Bhd's net profit jumped 21.8% to RM63.63 million or 1.26 sen per share for its fourth financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (4QFY15) from RM52.24 million or 1.06 sen per share a year ago, mainly driven by its Malaysia operation. 

Revenue for the quarter, however, declined 10.6% to RM576.58 million against RM643.73 million, dragged down by its international business and lower share of joint ventures (JV) results.

The group also declared a final dividend of 1.2 sen per share for the financial year ended  June 30, 2015 (FY15), subject to approval of the shareholders at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM).  This brings the total cash dividend for the current financial year to 2.2 sen amounting to RM111.76 million.

For the full FY15, Dialog saw its net profit grow 27.5% to RM275.13 million or 5.54 sen a share from RM215.87 million or 4.41 sen a share the previous year. This was despite revenue weakening by 7.45% to RM2.36 billion in FY15 from RM2.55 billion in FY14. 

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the group said financial performance from its Malaysia operation remained strong for FY15, mainly due to the completion of the engineering and construction activities for Johor's Pengerang Deepwater Terminal Phase 1 and the beginning of works on Phase 2 development.

"In addition, other projects and the upstream activities had also contributed positively to the better financial results. These better performances were however offset by lower sales in specialist products and services," it said.

On the International front, revenue for FY15 were lower by 20% against FY14, mainly due to low activities in engineering, construction and plant maintenance in Singapore and fabrication in Australia and New Zealand and lower sales of specialist products and services.

The group’s share of JV results for FY15 was also lower, mainly due to the share of operating and finance cost in Pengerang Independent Terminals and the write-off of non-recoverable cost in a JV that involves in upstream activities in 2QFY15.

On prospects, Dialog said the group is confident that its business model is well structured and can withstand the current oil price volatility and currency movements.

The engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning  works on Phase 2 of the Pengerang Deepwater Terminal will keep the group’s engineering and construction division, as well as its fabrication division busy over the next few years.

"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group is optimistic that it will continue to deliver a healthy performance for FY16," said Dialog. 

Dialog's share price has remained relatively resilient despite falling oil prices. Year-to-date, the stock lost two sen or 1.31%, outperforming the FBM KLCI's 10% decline. 

Shares in Dialog (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 1.1) closed five sen or 3.23% lower at RM1.50 today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM7.63 billion. 

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)