KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Sunway Bhd (KL:SUNWAY) posted a 26% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit to RM335.47 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2024 (4QFY2024), from RM266 million previously, driven by higher contributions from most of its business segments.

Earnings per share increased to 5.03 sen, from 4.39 sen in 4QFY2023, the diversified conglomerate showed in a bourse filing.

Quarterly revenue surged 53% y-o-y to RM2.85 billion, up from RM1.87 billion in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, supported by strong performances of the construction, property development, and trading and manufacturing divisions.

The group declared a second interim dividend of four sen per share, bringing total dividends declared to six sen per share for FY2024. The payment date will be announced later.

In addition, the group declared a preferential dividend of 5.25% per annum (based on the issue price of RM1) per irredeemable convertible preference share in respect of the financial period from July 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024.

For the full FY2024, net profit soared 56% y-o-y to RM1.15 billion — highest in three years — compared with RM737.87 million a year ago. The group’s annual revenue increased 28% to hit a record high of RM7.88 billion, from RM6.14 billion in FY2023.

Revenue from the group's property development segment jumped 63.4% to RM809.6 million in 4QFY2024, from RM495.5 million in 4QFY2023. The segment’s profit before tax (PBT) more than doubled to RM162.5 million, from RM69 million in 4QFY2023.

Sunway attributed the property development segment’s strong performance to higher sales and progress billings from ongoing local development projects, and fair value gain from revaluation of a property.

Quarterly revenue from the construction segment doubled to RM1.099.8 million in 4QFY2024, versus RM532.8 million a year ago. The segment’s PBT soared 86% to RM116.7 million in FY2024, from RM62.76 million a year earlier.

“The significant increase in the construction segment’s contribution was primarily driven by the accelerated progress of data centre projects,” said Sunway.

The construction segment, meanwhile, achieved an order book replenishment of RM4.2 billion in 2024, within the target range of RM4 billion to RM5 billion.

For FY2025, Sunway has set a order book replenishment target of RM4.5 billion to RM6 billion for the construction segment.

Meanwhile, the healthcare segment’s PBT grew by 60.7% to RM67 million in 4QFY2024, from RM41.7 million in 4QFY2023, anchored on the strong operational performance of Sunway Medical Centre (SMC) Sunway City, SMC Velocity and SMC Penang.

With SMC Damansara commencing operations in December 2024, the group's number of licensed beds stood at 1,396, versus 1,240 previously.

Sunway also expects to launch SMC Ipoh in the second quarter of 2025.

In a statement, Sunway group president Tan Sri Chew Chee Kin said the group maintains a favourable outlook on the property market in Malaysia and Singapore.

“With the formalisation of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, the group plans to launch more properties in Sunway City Iskandar Puteri and Johor Bahru,” he said.

Sunway has recently entered into a master agreement with Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) to develop a transit-oriented mixed-use development adjacent to the Bukit Chagar Station of the Rapid Transit Sistem (RTS) Link.

Shares of Sunway gained three sen to close at RM4.63 on Wednesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM28.81 billion. The stock has jumped 65% over the past one year.