This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 23, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Integrated engineering solutions provider Kelington Group Bhd secured new orders worth RM64 million during the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018. This lifted the total value of new orders secured in financial year 2018 (FY18) to RM424 million — breaching the RM400 million mark for the first time.

Kelington said it is currently tendering for contracts worth RM1.2 billion across Malaysia, Singapore, China and Taiwan — its key operating markets. In a statement yesterday, its chief executive officer Raymond Gan said total new orders in FY18 were 13% higher than those in FY17. “During the year, we benefited from an increase in ultra high purity (UHP) projects, driven by a growth in capital expenditure spending from semiconductor players in China and Singapore,” he added.

Also for the first time, revenue contribution from China and Singapore overtook its Malaysia operations to be Kelington’s largest contributor in FY18.

Gan said the group’s order book now stands at RM375 million, with 57% comprising UHP projects, 29% from process engineering projects and the remaining, general contracting projects.

“We expect to deliver a good financial performance in FY18, as our 9M2018 (cumulative first nine months of 2018) net profit of RM13.3 million had surpassed our FY17 net profit of RM11.8 million,” he added.