PETALING JAYA: IJM Corp Bhd
, which posted a 49.1% decline in net profit to RM33.4mil for the first quarter ended June 30, 2022 (1Q23), expects a satisfactory performance for the current financial year, supported by the recovery in the local business landscape.
The construction group reiterated that its focus on building financial resilience in the last two years by implementing cost containment measures, as well as aggressively paring down property inventory and low yielding assets, has yielded results with its fundamentals growing stronger post Covid-19.
IJM said in a statement that its balance sheet, with a net gearing of 27.8%, is expected to bolster its competitive position to undertake large-scale projects that are on a private-finance-initiative basis.
In the near term, performance would be supported by its outstanding construction order book of RM3.94bil and property unbilled sales of RM2.2bil.
The group said toll operations have recovered to pre-pandemic levels while the performance of its port operations will be dependent on the global recovery.
In 1Q23, pre-tax profit rose 8.9% to RM91.2mil. Adjusting for foreign exchange losses of RM45mil, it said pre-tax profit would have improved by 60% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
Group revenue, meanwhile, increased 3.7% to RM1.07bil.
IJM said the rise in revenue was seen across most business divisions. Earnings per share for the quarter was at 0.95 sen.
