HSS Engineers planning to diversify into water and power sectors

HSS Engineers Bhd chief operating officer Sharifah Azlina Raja Kamal Pasmah, co-founder and executive director Datuk Seri Ir. Kuna Sittampalam, executive director and CEO Datuk Ir. Nitchiananthan Balasubramaniam and finance general manager Ng Kuan Yee speaking to the media after the annual general meeting.

KUALA LUMPUR: HSS Engineers Bhd plans to diversify its business operations both in new vertical markets and geographical locations, moving forward.

The ACE Market-listed engineering and project management firm indicated that it is looking at vibrant opportunities in new areas particularly the water and power sectors, in the near term.

HSS Engineers executive director cum chief executive officer Datuk Nitchiananthan Balasubramaniam said that the company is actively looking into further expansion within the next 18 months.

“Diversification is important for HSS Engineers as our domestic operations contributed the bulk of the group’s revenue accounting for 98% or RM136.1mil of total revenue in the financial year 2016 (FY16).

“Apart from that, the bulk of our revenue come from our strong traditional businesses which are related to transportation. Thus, diversification is key for us moving forward. We are also looking at increasing our exposure in the high-potential water and power segment which currently contributes some 2-3% of our top line,” he told reporters after HSS Engineers’ inaugural AGM.

Geographical locations wise, Nitchiananthan added that the company is planning to penetrate further into Asean and the Middle East regions, as well as India.

“To facilitate our future expansions, we have allocated about 75% of our IPO proceeds for the purpose,” he said. HSS Engineers was listed in August 2016 and raised about RM31.91mil in total gross proceeds.

Going forward, HSS Engineers executive director Datuk Seri Kuna Sittampalam projected a better performance of the company this year, underpinned by the contracts that it has won in recent times and the expectation to secure more projects in the near future.

“In the short span of eight months since listing, we have successfully clinched a total of of RM103mil worth of projects, with the most recent one being the RM17.9mil contract awarded by MyHSR Corp for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project.

HSS Engineers’ current tender book value stands at approximately RM250mil-300mil. In addition, as at December 2016, the company had an order book of RM378.4mil which is expected to sustain its operations for the next 2-5 years.