KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26): Gamuda Bhd (KL:GAMUDA), whose share price has gained 74.5% year to date, proposed a one-for-one bonus issue, involving an issuance of up to RM2.98 billion bonus shares.

In a filing with the stock exchange, the group said the bonus shares will be issued as fully paid, at no consideration and without capitalisation of the group’s reserves.

Separately, Gamuda reported an 8.2% increase in net profit to RM272.49 million for the fourth quarter ended July 31, 2024 (4QFY2024) against RM251.75 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Quarterly revenue expanded 38.7% to RM4.72 billion from RM3.4 billion previously.

While the group did not declare any dividend for the quarter under review, its FY2024 payout amounted to 16 sen per share.  

For FY2024, its net earnings (continuing operations) rose 12% to a record-breaking RM912.13 million from RM814.73 million in FY2023, while revenue jumped 62.4% to RM13.35 billion against RM8.22 billion previously.

In a filing with the stock exchange, Gamuda said its overseas construction revenue tripled to an all-time high of RM9 billion for FY2024 from RM3.5 billion, underpinned by the higher work progress of the Australian projects including a full year’s consolidation of the recently acquired transport projects business of Australia’s Downer Group.

Its construction order book hit another record high for the third consecutive year at RM25 billion as the construction division posted record-breaking revenue and earnings of RM11 billion and RM501 million respectively, contributing 72% of group revenue and 55% of group earnings.

The property division also delivered a robust revenue growth of 47%, spearheaded by its overseas projects with major contributions from several quick-turnaround projects (QTPs). Annual overseas revenue currently contributes 75% of overall group revenue, against 52% previously.

Property sales surged to an all-time high for the third consecutive year at RM5 billion, spearheaded by several newly launched QTPs. The property division posted record-breaking revenue and earnings of RM4.2 billion and RM411 million respectively, accounting for 28% of group revenue and 45% of group earnings.

Commenting on the outlook, Gamuda expects its next year’s performance will be largely driven by overseas and domestic construction activities, including the construction of several data centres and higher contribution from the property division’s various QTPs.

“Moving forward, the resilience of the group is underpinned by an all-time high construction order book of RM25 billion and unbilled property sales of RM7.7 billion. On top of that, the group has a healthy balance sheet with a comfortable net gearing of 39%, well below its self-imposed gearing limit of 70%,” it added.

Shares of Gamuda closed seven sen or 0.9% lower at RM8.01 on Thursday, giving it a market value of RM22.59 billion.