KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Gas Malaysia Bhd saw its net profit fall 56% to RM10.27 million or 0.8 sen a share for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015 (4QFY15) from RM23.34 million or 1.82 sen a share a year ago, weighed down by additional billing for price differential between market prices and regulated prices for liquefied natural gas volume supplied from its gas supplier.

Revenue for the quarter, however, doubled to RM1.17 billion from RM780.5 million in 4QFY14 due to higher volume of gas sold and the upward revision of natural gas tariff, it told the exchange in a filing today.

Gas Malaysia also proposed a final dividend of 4.77 sen for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15), amounting to RM61.25 million, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting.

For FY15, its net profit fell 36.7% to RM106.16 million or 8.27 sen per share from RM167.63 million or 13.06 sen per share, dragged down by lower gross contribution resulting from margin compression and the above additional billing for price differential between market prices and regulated prices.

Revenue gained 30.7% to RM3.62 billion from RM2.77 billion in FY14, underpinned by higher volume of gas sold and the upward revisions of natural gas tariff effective Nov 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015.

On prospects, Gas Malaysia said the growth in revenue for FY15 was primarily driven by the increase in volume of gas sold, number of customers and revisions in gas tariff.

"The board anticipates that the increase in gas volume and number of customers to sustain for FY16," it said, adding the group's profitability is expected to be in tandem with the level reflecting the prevailing tariff setting mechanism framework.

Shares of Gas Malaysia closed four sen or 1.65% higher to a three-month high of RM2.47 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.15 billion.