KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 30): MISC Bhd's first quarter net profit fell to RM486.31 million from a year earlier on lower income from liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping operations, and higher cost at its heavy engineering unit.
In a statement to the exchange today, MISC (fundamental: 2; valuation: 1) said higher minority interest also led to lower profit in the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 from RM486.4 million. Revenue, however, rose to RM2.49 billion from RM2.29 billion.
"Group operating profit of RM468.2 million was 7.2% lower than the corresponding quarter's profit of RM504.3 million, mainly due to lower revenue in LNG business and additional costs incurred on some heavy engineering projects.
"However, higher profit in offshore business and lower losses in chemical business helped to mitigate the decrease in group operating profit," said MISC, which is a 62.67%-owned subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Bhd.
MISC's heavy engineering unit comes under 66.5%-owned unit Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 1.4; valuation: 2).
Looking ahead, MISC said its FY15 performance would hinge on LNG shipping and offshore structure contracts.
Despite lower crude oil prices, MISC said its petroleum shipping segment "had found strength" from sustained global oil output.
"Barring any material cutbacks in global oil production, the recent strength in petroleum shipping could be sustained for the year. Chemical shipping prospects remain mixed given uncertainty in demand as a result of sluggish growth in certain economic zones," MISC said.
At 12.30pm, MISC shares fell 21 sen or 2% to settle at RM9.16 for a market capitalisation of RM40.89 billion.
A total of 797,900 shares changed hands.
(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)