Strong demand for George Kent Malaysia Bhd’s water meters helped cushion the loss suffered from the slow down in works on the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT 3) project as the company saw its first quarter ended April 30, 2019 (1Q20) earnings fall 37% year-on-year (YoY) to RM13.5 million.
Revenue for 1Q20 fell by 17% YoY to RM82 million due to lower revenue reported on its engineering division, its exchange filing yesterday stated.
In January this year, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) and George Kent signed a revised fixed price contract of RM11.4 billion with Prasarana Malaysia Bhd for the LRT3 project.
Works are expected to restart earnestly by the end of this year, George Kent noted in its exchange filing yesterday.
George Kent now has a RM5 billion order book.
Moving forward the group’s focus continues to be on its long stated strategic plan to broaden its water meters income base and raise the division’s contribution to the group’s earnings to 50% in the short term and to 75% in the medium to longer term.
“This will be achieved by allocating substantial resources to further expand the Metering business domestically and regionally, not just in increasing the number of water meters sold, but to increase the in-house manufactured content, some of which are imported currently,” the company stated in a statement yesterday.
The group’s stated it hopes to leverage on its established network with international rail specialist to tap into regional projects via joint ventures or strategic alliances.
George Kent’s shares closed one sen lower yesterday to RM1.11, valuing the company at RM625 million.
Sumber: The Malaysian Reserve