KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): YTL Corp Bhd's cement unit, Malayan Cement Bhd, swung to the black with a net profit of RM953,000 for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (1QFY2023), versus a net loss of RM23.75 million a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter leapt three-fold to RM858.85 million from RM284.58 million last year, as the group fully consolidated the revenue of its acquired cement and ready-mixed concrete companies, versus nine days of revenue consolidation in 1QFY2022.

"Revenue for [1QFY2022] was also impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic disruption to construction activities resulting from the nationwide total lockdown," the group said, noting that its net profit for the current quarter under review was impacted by the rising costs of coal and electricity.

According to Malayan Cement, the group on Sept 21, 2021 completed the acquisition of the entire equity interests of 10 cement and ready-mixed concrete companies and their respective subsidiaries from YTL.

Commenting on the group's prospects, Malayan Cement said that in the near term the construction sector will continue to be impacted by high input prices and logistics costs, labour shortages, interest rate hikes and geopolitical uncertainties, which have a knock-on effect on cement demand.

Nonetheless, Malayan Cement noted that the acquisitions continue to bolster the group's profitability and value enhancement.

"The effectiveness and efficiency of the group's cement operations and ability to deliver seamless solutions to customers will be optimised, boding well for the positive growth and outlook of the group and the industry going forward.

"Also, there continues to be a healthy demand from the export market which the Langkawi plant is well positioned to capitalise on," the group added.

Malayan Cement's share price ended six sen or 2.75% higher at RM2.24 on Thursday (Nov 24), giving the group a market capitalisation of RM2.93 billion.