KUALA LUMPUR: Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd is optimistic about its prospects this year, buoyed by healthy construction activities as prices of raw materials have started to taper off.
Kerjaya chief executive officer and executive director Tee Eng Tiong said raw material prices had started to taper off from the peak in the first half of the year, which was expected to enhance Kerjaya's bottom line.
He said the construction segment would remain as the main revenue contributor for Kerjaya Prospek and the company expected to see a double-digit margin this year.
"We hope when the raw material price is stable, it will help to enhance our bottom line and margin.
"For this quarter, we have seen an improvement in our margin, which improved from 9.2 per cent to 9.9 per cent. This was also resulted from the lower material price for this year," he told reporters at the company's second quarter (Q2) ended June 30, 2022 results briefing today.
Meanwhile, Tee said the company had received approvall from the relevant authorities to recruit the first batch of 750 foreign workers.
He said this would provide the company with the resources to take on more jobs and expedite construction progress that had been delayed before.
"Our main focus is to continue securing new contracts to bolster our order book and enhance our operational efficiency to boost our bottomline. With these new resources, we are optimistic to achieve our revenue target of RM1 billion for the second half of this year.
"We also expect new 1,500 foreign workers (second batch) to come in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2022," he said.
Kerjaya Prospek's net profit rose 78.3 per cent to RM28.54 million in Q2 2022 from RM16.00 million a year ago.
The company said it revenue increased 45.8 per cent to RM276.9 million in Q2 2022 from RM189.9 million last year.
"Higher progress billings in Q2 2022 gave rise to the higher revenue as there were no disruptions at the work sites as compared to the corresponding quarter last year," it said.
For the cumulative six months, Kerjaya Prospek's net profit and revenue increased by 35.4 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively to RM57.4 million and RM577.5 million.
The improved financial performance was mainly attributed to the higher progress billings amidst increased site activities.
Its balance sheet remained healthy with a net cash position of RM214.6 million and a current ratio of 6.1 times as at June 30, 2022.
The strong cash position provides Kerjaya with a solid buffer to withstand potential economic downturns.
Kerjaya Prospek had soft launched its second property development project, The Vue @ Monterez, with a gross development value ("GDV") of RM250.0 million in June 2022.
The Vue @ Monterez, located at Shah Alam, consists of 3 blocks of apartments, housing a total of 436 residential units.
Kerjaya Prospek targets to launch its next project namely Yakin Land development, by end-2022.
The RM380.0 million gross development product (GDV) development comprises two 38-storey residential blocks with a total of 454 residential units.
The company has declared its second interim dividend of 1.0 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending December 31, 2022, which will be paid on October 7, 2022 to the shareholders on the register on September 9, 2022.
This brings the total dividend declared to date for the current financial year to 3.0 sen per share.
"Year to date, we have secured RM1.3 billion worth of contracts, which bolstered our outstanding order book to RM4.3 billion (as at June 30, 2022).
"Our robust order book will provide earnings visibility over the next three years," he added.