KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): Gamuda Bhd’s (KL:GAMUDA) net profit rose 5.56% to RM235.8 million for the third quarter ended April 30, 2024 (3QFY2024), from RM223.37 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, as it registered higher contribution from overseas projects.

Quarterly revenue grew 20.46% to RM2.49 billion from RM2.07 billion, driven by wholly-owned Gamuda Engineering Sdn Bhd, whose revenue from overseas projects doubled to RM2.2 billion while earnings from the same jumped to RM86 million, fuelled by its Australian projects.

Domestic earnings, meanwhile, were hindered by a delay in regulatory approvals for several domestic projects, such as the Penang Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Ulu Padas Hydroelectric Dam in Sabah, Gamuda said in a bourse filing. 

The group announced a second interim dividend of 10 sen per share, to be paid on a date to be disclosed, bringing year-to-date dividend for FY2024 to 16 sen per share, as opposed to 50 sen in the corresponding period in FY2023.

For the nine months ended April 30, Gamuda’s net profit rose to RM639.64 million from RM562.98 million (continuing operations) a year earlier — not including the RM1.02 billion from its discontinued highway operations — as revenue jumped 79.07% to RM8.63 billion from RM4.82 billion.

Looking ahead, Gamuda said its performance in FY2024 will be largely driven by overseas construction activities. This includes projects in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, which continue to pick up, as well as the impact of full-year earnings from the acquisition of Downer Transport Projects, completed in June 2023.

Additionally, the group anticipates significant contributions from the construction of several data centres and property sales, including higher contributions from newly launched quick-turnaround development projects.

“Moving forward, the resilience of the group is underpinned by a large construction orderbook of RM24 billion and unbilled property sales of RM6.7 billion. On top of that, the group has a healthy balance sheet with a comfortable net gearing of 35%, well below its self-imposed gearing limit of 70%,” Gamuda added.

Shares of Gamuda closed four sen or 0.61% lower at RM6.50 on Tuesday, valuing the engineering and construction group at RM18.01 billion. The counter has gained over 41% since the start of this year.