KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd’s net profit leapt 42% to RM348.4 million in the third quarter ended Oct 31, 2014 (3QFY15), from RM245.6 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

The improved net profit was mainly due to higher contribution from its drilling and energy services (DES) segment, said SapuraKencana in a statement to Bursa Malaysia today.

The group said its DES segment recorded higher profit and revenue, due to the inclusion of the SapuraKencana Energy Inc Group’s (SKEI) business.

The SKEI business is a group of subsidiaries involved in upstream oil & gas activities, which was acquired by the group on Feb 11, 2014.

The group also declared a tax exempt second interim dividend of 2 sen per share, in the financial year ending Jan 31, 2015.

Its third quarter revenue nudged up 1.2% to RM2.41 billion, from RM2.38 billion a year ago.

SapuraKencana said the higher revenue was primarily because of higher revenue contribution from its DES segment, after the inclusion of revenue from SKEI’s business.

For the nine-month period (9MFY15), net profit soared 74% to RM1.3 billion, from RM749.7 million in the same period last year (2013), while revenue grew 16.2% to RM7.55 billion, from RM6.49 billion a year earlier.

SapuraKencana said the higher profit and revenue were again, primarily due to the inclusion of the SKEI business.

It added it made a gain of RM177.8 million from the SKEI acquisition, which further boosted its profit.

SapuraKencanca acknowledged that the global oil and gas industry is facing challenging times, due to the weak demand for crude oil.

But the group is confident in delivering a healthy financial performance for the current financial year, on the back of recurring income from long term contracts and a strong balance sheet.

In a separate announcement, SapuraKencana revealed that its vice chairman Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir has purchased an additional two million shares to increase his indirect equity stake to 10.18%, or some 610 million shares in the group.

The acquisition was transacted yesterday (Dec 8) and today — one million shares each — via his private investment vehicle, Kencana Capital Sdn Bhd.

Comparatively, Mokhzani holds a direct 0.16% equity stake, representing 9.49 million shares, in SapuraKencana.

SapuraKencana closed the day, after shedding 7 sen or 2.8% at RM2.45, giving it a market capitalisation of RM14.44 billion.