KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): Sunway Construction Group Bhd's (SunCon) net profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16) fell by 15.45% year-on-year to RM29.06 million or 2.25 sen a share from RM34.37 million or 2.66 sen a share, as its current construction projects are nearing completion and sales of precast products was lower.

Meanwhile, revenue dropped by 14.46% to RM424.35 million from RM496.07 million.

The construction outfit for Sunway Bhd said in a Bursa Malaysia filing today that there were lower billings from its civil and building projects because "some of them had reached or were near their completion stages", which resulted in its construction revenue falling by some 11% to RM373.8 million.

SunCon, however, pointed out its construction segment's pre-tax profit of RM26 million in the quarter was higher from the previous year's RM17.6 million, as it had made provision for a loss-making project in the year prior.

What dragged down SunCon's bottom line was the precast segment, where its pre-tax profit was slashed by half to RM11.5 million. SunCon said this was due to lower revenue, as there was a lower delivery volume of existing projects in the quarter, and thinner profit margin.

SunCon said that it had been shortlisted to tender for several mega infrastructure projects such as the Pan Borneo Highway, the third phase of light rail transit (LRT 3), the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH), and Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE).

"If the group manages to secure some of the projects mentioned above and coupled with the steady flow of in-house projects from the Sunway Group, the expected order book value will improve further, which will augur well for the group's earnings going forward," SunCon said of its prospects.

Its shares inched down by one sen to close at RM1.53, bringing its market capitalisation to RM1.99 billion.