This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 4, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Vertice Bhd, formerly Voir Holdings Bhd, has been awarded a subcontract job valued at RM218.48 million in relation to upgrading works of the federal road from Gambang, Pahang, to Segamat, Johor.

Its wholly-owned unit Vertice Construction Sdn Bhd received the letter of award yesterday for the job from Kumpulan Liziz Sdn Bhd, the main subcontractor for the upgrading of the federal road known as Federal Road 12 (FR12).

Vertice said in a statement its job scope involves the coordination, inspection, testing, commissioning and obtaining final approval for works done for the proposed upgrading works of FR12. Construction of the project will take about 13 months, from April 9 this year to April 30, 2019, Vertice said, and should contribute positively to the group’s financial performance in the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18) and FY19.

The group’s current order book stands at RM385 million, and is expected to occupy its construction arm until FY20.

Vertice’s board of directors said the contract is its “biggest contract award yet”. The contract value is almost twice the market capitalisation of the group, which stood at RM116.16 million when its stock settled at 80 sen yesterday.

“This project is significant to us due to its large contract value and is a testament to our client’s confidence in our ability to deliver.

“This contract win is a huge leap in our new business strategic direction of diversifying into the construction industry. Our construction arm is in its growth stage and we are certain that it will continue to grow with our continuous precise execution and securing of new contracts in the near future,” the board added. Vertice, which has denied that it is involved in the Penang undersea tunnel project aside from its recent investment of 13.21% in Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, ventured into construction activities via Vertice Construction in the fourth quarter of 2016 to diversify its income stream.

The RM6.3 billion mega project came under the spotlight at the start of the year when Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers arrested several individuals in connection with investigations into the project, which is an integral component of the Penang Transport Master Plan.

The group, which still maintains fashion apparel as one of its core businesses, appointed former chief justice Tun Arifin Zakaria as its new non-executive independent chairman in February.