One of Kerjaya's projects Grand Bazaars Mall. RHB Research said going forward, Kerjaya would have enough workers to meet its manpower requirements.
PETALING JAYA: Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd
is set to see a surge in earnings in its fourth quarter for the financial year 2022 (4Q22) due to a stronger labour force and job flows.
The construction and engineering group has received the 280 workers from Nepal since August last year.
Meanwhile, the earlier-approved 500 headcount in 3Q22 already saw 405 Bangladeshi workers coming into the country.
Latest checks indicated that an additional 1,500-foreign workers had been approved by the government, with 690 waiting to enter the country.
RHB Research said going forward, Kerjaya would have enough workers to meet its manpower requirements.
To this end, the research house said Kerjaya’s 4Q22 core earnings would increase by 4% to 10% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to RM30mil to RM32mil, translating into a FY22 earnings growth of more than 20% year-on-year (y-o-y).
For its 3Q22, the construction-based group’s net profit rose to RM28.81mil from RM24.18mil in the previous corresponding period, while revenue grew to RM259.40mil from RM222.64mil.
Basic earnings per share stood at 2.28 sen in 3Q22 versus 1.95 sen in 3Q21.
It has declared a third interim dividend of one sen per ordinary share paid on Jan 6, 2023.
In FY22, the group secured RM1.8bil worth of new jobs – a tad lower than RHB Research’s RM1.9bil replenishment assumption for the year. This was the highest annual job win recorded by the group, the research house noted.
FY23 also saw a good start, with the group’s 49%-owned subsidiary, Kerjaya Bina BMK clinching a RM135mil contract, of which RM66mil is attributable to Kerjaya Prospek (about 5% of FY23 new job win target of RM1.3bil).
The contract is a design-and-build job from BBCC Development Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur.
In a statement yesterday, the group’s wholly-owned unit, Future Rock Sdn Bhd had accepted a letter of award from Tanjung Pinang Development Sdn Bhd, for construction of coastal protection structure for the proposed Seri Tanjung Pinang Development at Tanjung Tokong, in Penang, worth RM398mil.
The contract entailed the construction of a temporary coastal protection structure, located at Tanjung Tokong, with construction works expected to commence on April 10 this year and would last for a duration of 36 months.
RHB Research has maintained its “buy” call on Kerajaya due its upbeat prospects backed by a sizeable RM1.5bil to RM2bil tender book.
The view was backed with Kerjaya’s net cash pile of more than RM200mil as at end-3Q22. Further earnings upside may come from the job pipeline related to Seri Tanjung Pinang phase two – with about RM2bil worth of projects to be executed in the next five to seven years.
