KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): YTL Corporation Bhd’s (KL:YTL) net profit fell 24.6% to RM325.99 million in the third quarter from RM432.63 million a year earlier — marking its lowest quarterly profit in three years — despite higher revenue posted for the quarter. 

The decline was due to weaker earnings from its power generation, telecommunications and hotel businesses, as well as losses in management services and other segments.

This is the group's weakest quarterly earnings since 2QFY2023 when it posted a net profit of RM96.9 million. 

Revenue, however, rose 3.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM7.57 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 (3QFY2026) from RM7.3 billion a year earlier, lifted mainly by the cement and building materials industry segment, a bourse filing showed. No dividend was declared for the quarter under review.

For the nine-month period (9MFY2026), the group’s net profit declined by 17.52% to RM1.11 billion, from RM1.35 billion a year ago, while revenue eased marginally by 1.53% to RM22.8 billion, from RM23.15 billion previously.

The weaker utilities contribution at YTL Corp was reflected in the earnings of its 52.46%-owned YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR), which posted a 33.43% y-o-y decline net profit to RM325.8 million for 3QFY2026, from RM489.41 million a year earlier, despite revenue edging up 3.98% to RM5.08 billion for 3QFY2026, from RM4.89 billion previously.

The weaker earnings at YTL Power were mainly due to lower retail and vesting margins for the power generation segment, coupled with lower electricity generation units sold. 

As a result, the power generation segment's pre-tax profit dropped 48% to RM264.29 million in 3QFY2026, from RM511.16 million a year ago, with revenue also decreasing by 8.1% to RM2.42 billion, from RM2.63 billion previously.

The telecommunications segment also recorded weaker revenue of RM173.94 million in 3QFY2026, from RM264.24 million a year before. Its pre-tax loss widened to RM114.99 million for 3QFY2026, from a pre-tax loss of RM11.42 million.

YTL Power’s weaker quarterly performance also dragged its 9MFY2026 net profit to RM1.26 billion, a 26.9% drop from RM1.73 billion in 9MFY2025. Revenue for 9MFY2026, however, fell 3.42% y-o-y to RM15.7 billion, from RM16.25 billion a year earlier.

YTL Power declared an interim dividend of four sen per share, payable on July 10.

On group prospects, YTL said its power generation business is expected to remain stable and it will continue to focus on operational efficiency and diversification into integrated multi-utilities supply.

It said its water and sewerage segment is supported by the final decision on the UK’s regulator for the Wessex Water’s 2025-2030 business plan, which delivers an improved and more supportive outcome.

Meanwhile, the telecommunications business is looking to expand its subscriber base through partnerships and affordable data plans.

For the data centre business, the group is looking to expand geographically beyond the green data centre park in Kulai, Johor, while noting that it has invested RM8.1 billion in data centre business. 

It is currently delivering a large-scale solar power facility with a generation capacity of up to 500MW in the Kulai Young Estate, alongside plans to increase the green data centre park’s capacity to 1,000MW.

YTL shares have rebounded from their recent low of RM1.61 in March to RM2.36 in early May. The group’s share price slipped three sen or 1.45% to close at RM2.04 on Thursday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM23.83 billion.

YTL Power shares closed up 0.97% or four sen on Thursday at RM4.15, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM36.12 billion.