KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Gamuda Bhd posted a 30% decline in its net profit to RM123.12 million for the second quarter (2Q) ended Jan 31, 2021, from RM175.17 million a year earlier, which the group said was due to the "Covid-19 effect".
Quarterly revenue for the quarter fell 18% to RM895.41 million from RM1.09 billion in the previous year's corresponding quarter. The group did not recommend any dividend.
In its filing with the bourse, the construction group attributed the decline in performance to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The group's financial performance continued to be resilient despite the reimposition of movement restrictions in most parts of Malaysia during this quarter.
"The pace of construction and property projects was returning to pre-movement restrictions level due to the group's rigorous Covid-19 measures at all work fronts," it said.
According to its financial statements, its construction segment posted a 30% fall in net profit contribution year-on-year to RM51.57 million, while the property segment saw an 80% drop in net profit to only RM8.14 million.
By geography, its home operations saw a 20% contraction in core net profit, while the overseas segment declined 58%.
For the cumulative six months ended Jan 31, 2021, its net profit shrank 33% to RM232.4 million versus RM348.79 million a year earlier, while revenue contracted 24% to RM1.66 billion from RM2.19 billion.
Going forward, it expects its performance in the current financial year ending July 31, 2021 to be driven by overseas property sales in Vietnam and Singapore, as well as the continued progress of the MRT Putrajaya Line (MRT Line 2).
"Moving forward, the resilience of the group is underpinned by its construction order book of RM5.5 billion and unbilled property sales totalling RM3.6 billion which will see it through the next two years. On top of that, the group has a healthy balance sheet with a prudent gearing of 0.3 times," said Gamuda.
Gamuda fell six sen or 1.66% to close at RM3.55, giving a market capitalisation of RM8.9 billion.