George Kent chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock
KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd posted a net profit of RM31.26 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2022 (FY2022) on the back of RM355.22 million in revenue.
In the previous financial year, the group had changed its financial year-end from Jan 31 to March 31.
Due to the change, the performance of the quarter ended March 31, 2022, being the fourth quarter of FY2022, is not comparable with that of the fourth quarter of the previous financial year, it noted in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
George Kent shared that the group’s revenue for the metering division continued to report strong results at RM55.4 million for the quarter while cumulative revenue was at RM152.7 million.
It said the group’s order book for its water meters also remained healthy with RM78 million worth of orders in hand.
As for the group’s engineering division, it said revenue of RM64.2 million was recorded with the segment profit for the quarter at RM16.8 million.
Meanwhile, to reward shareholders, the board of directors has declared a second interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share for FY2022.
The dividend is payable on July 7, 2022 to shareholders whose names appear in the record of depositors of the company as at June 16, 2022.
It said on the assumption that as announced to date, the treasury shares of 41.03 million shares are not entitled to dividends, and the dividend pay-out on 522.24 million shares will amount to approximately RM7.84 million.
The group had declared the first dividend of one sen per share on Nov 23, 2021, which amounted to RM5.22 million. Therefore, the two dividends will amount to RM13.06 million for FY2022.
Moving forward, the group said it would continue to look out for more engineering project tenders in 2022, both locally and overseas, while also exploring other business opportunities including the acquisition of businesses that are complementary to the group.
Commenting on the performance and prospects, chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock said FY2022 was an excellent set of results despite a challenging environment posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressures from higher input prices, and the uncertainties caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He said both the metering and engineering divisions had performed well to achieve a solid set of year-end results.
Tan also said that the group expects the metering division to continue to be robust and to remain on a strong growth momentum.
"On our digital technology front, we have been actively identifying investment opportunities with the potential to contribute positively to the group and are carefully considering options before making any decisions.
"The group is also constantly looking to tender for more projects under the construction and engineering division,” he said.
Tan noted that the group is looking forward to more opportunities in the industry as the market reopens with gradual improvement in contract flows between the private sectors and roll-outs of public projects by the government.
"The group shall continue to develop its major business segments in line with the group’s sustainability policy focusing on more automation of its processes.
"As we head into a new financial year, we are optimistic about George Kent’s growth. Enhancing stakeholder value continues to be at the forefront of our business,” he added. - Bernama
