KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd’s net profit declined 31.7 per cent to RM84.92 million in the year ended January 2019, from RM124.4 million previously mainly due to to lower contribution from the engineering division.
Its revenue dropped to RM430.75 million from RM617 in the preceding year.
For the fourth quarter ended January 2019, George Kent’s net profit dropped to RM18.25 million from RM84.92 million.
It declared a third interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share payable on April 30 this year to shareholders whose names appear in the record of depositors on April 9, 2019, being the book closure date.
The company said its performance was credible in spite of the retiming of income recognition arising from the government’s remodelling of the Light Rail Transit 3 project to a fixed-price contract.
“Construction works were suspended since June 2018 and are expected to resume in the latter part of 2019. The commendable results reflected the robustness of George Kent’s other businesses,” it said in a statement.
Chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock said against this backdrop, the group was committed to delivering on its existing order book and was staying sure and steadfast about implementing its Strategic Plan to broaden its income base.
“This entails substantial investment of resources, both human and financial, into growing its Metering and other water-related businesses and investments.
“As things stand, demand for water meters has and continues to outstrip supply. We are looking to expand our production capacity to cater for demand growth from both the organic and merger and acquisition fronts,” he said.
The group is allocating substantial resources to further expand the metering business in the country and the region.
“The group’s automated meter reading solution is undergoing pilot testing in several states with commercialisation set for later in 2019,” Tan said.
The group is also participating in tenders under the non-revenue water initiative of the national water meter replacement programme.
This should further catalyse sales of the group’s water meters in the country, Tan said.
He said the group was also on the lookout for opportunities in the regional railway space, leveraging on its expertise as rail systems specialist in domestic railway projects.
“The group’s strong order book will provide earnings visibility over the next few years,” he added.