KUALA LUMPUR: HSS Engineers Bhd
anticipates a more rapid roll-out of mega-infrastructure projects in the fourth quarter of the year with privatisation playing a pivotal role in funding some of the key infrastructure undertakings.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the engineering group said the tender for Phase 1B of the Pan Borneo Sabah is expected to be called in 4Q of 2022 while flood mitigation jobs will be accelerated in view of the massive recurring flash floods.
"Under the Budget 2022, the government has set up an Infrastructure Facilitation Fund 3.0 with an initial fund allocation of RM 200 million to facilitate the privatisation mechanism which is under the purview of the Public-Private Partnership Unit.
"Currently, we are working on several highway privatisation proposals within the Klang Valley," it said.
As at end-September 2022, the group said its order book stood at RM1.47bil with project management being the biggest contributor of 76%. Its tender book stood at about RM350mil.
According to executive vice-chairman Tan Sri Kuna Sittampalam, the group is aggressively expanding its pool of engineers to cater to the higher activities following its win of the RM997.9mil Mass Rapid Transit 3 contract, as well as various flood mitigation and local infrastructure projects.
"We are optimistic of maintaining a significant profit uptrend in FY2022 as we continue to make significant strides in our PMC role and peer review for MRT3, water-related work packages for the State of Selangor, as well as mission-critical flood mitigation projects across different states in Malaysia," he said in a statement.
In the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022, HSS Engineers posted a net profit of RM5mil, up from just RM225,000 in the same quarter last year owing to an increase in gross profit margin attributable to its project management job for Projek Lebuhraya Pan Borneo Sabah (Phase 1).
The group's earnings per share rose to 1.01 sen from 0.05 sen in the comparative quarter.
Revenue however was slightly lower at RM40.37mil compared with RM42.95mil in the year-ago quarter given a decline in contribution from its engineering services segment.
The quarter's performance brought HSS Engineer's year-to-date net profit to RM11.45mil, three times the net profit from the same 2021 period while revenue was 8.86% lower year-on-year at RM114.66mil.
