Kuala Lumpur (March 23): Higher construction work progress and stronger overseas property sales boosted Gamuda Bhd's net profit in its second quarter of financial year 2018 (2QFY18), which grew 27% to RM211.26 million from RM166.26 million a year ago.

New property projects in Malaysia also helped lift earnings for the quarter, according to the group in its Bursa Malaysia filing today. Quarterly revenue for 2QFY18 ended Jan 31, 2018, was up 17% year-on-year to RM1 billion from RM853.88 million.

Its year-to-date or six-month (6MFY18) financial performance was similarly better due to the same reasons, with net profit growing 26% y-o-y to RM414.27 million from RM328.41 million, while revenue jumped 31% y-o-y to RM1.77 billion from RM1.36 billion.

It said its property division sold RM1.9 billion worth of properties for the 6MFY18 period, and is on track to achieve its full-year target sales of RM3.5 billion, surpassing last year's RM2.4 billion.

"The better performance was driven by overseas sales, underpinned by Vietnam, and the new local townships of Gamuda Gardens and twentyfive.7," it added.

On overall prospects, the group anticipates a better performance this year as progress of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line 2 — for which it is the project delivery partner via its joint venture company MMC Gamuda KVMRT (PDP SSP) Sdn Bhd — picks up pace.

The group's optimism is also spurred by higher property sales driven by overseas projects, especially Vietnam, and its new townships in Malaysia, besides steady earnings contribution from the group's expressway division.

It also updated that it had submitted the environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports for the reclamation works, the Pan Island Link 1, and the Railway Scheme for the Light Rail Transit under the Penang Transport Master Plan project, and that they are now being reviewed by the relevant federal government bodies.

Gamuda's shares closed 2 sen or 0.39% higher at RM5.12 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM12.58 billion.