Projek Lintasan Holdings Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah said the group aims to ensure a positive level of service to users as well as the efficiency level of operating expenditure. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Prolintas Infra Business Trust (Prolintas Infra BT), the first business trust to be listed on Bursa Malaysia, opened flat upon its debut on the Main Market at 95 sen per share.
Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas) chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah said he was pleased with the opening price post-listing, which saw the stock retaining its initial public offering (IPO) price.
“We are pleased to see the opening price and we thank the investors for the support and belief in our listing.
“This is evident of investor confidence in the quality of assets that we put through this trust, namely the four highway assets, in terms of performance, track record and maturity of the highways, with proven traffic numbers,” he said at a briefing after Prolintas Infra BT’s debut.
Moving forward, he said the immediate focus is to ensure the group’s operating expenditure (opex) is kept at an efficient level to ensure earnings are optimised and to provide investors with returns.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about increasing the level of service for our users, how we manage our traffic and how we manage our cost, as well as providing that level of return and dividend to our trust,” Mohammad Azlan added.
The four highway assets under its portfolio are Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam and Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway.
According to a statement, the four highways serve almost half a million of road users every day, in which the combined traffic volume recorded in 2022 was about 158.2 million.
Prolintas Infra BT has also been considering injecting two additional highway assets under its portfolio – the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (Dash) and Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (Suke).
Mohammad Azlan said he is unable to provide a specific timeframe. However, he believed that it is imperative for the group to consider the timeline as well as the performance before injecting the two assets to its portfolio.
“I think it’s a bit too early for now. At the end of the day, it’s about timing and also the performance of these two particular highways that we have under the roof for now and how it is going to move forward in the future,” he added.
On the performance of the two potential highway assets, Mohammad Azlan said Dash is doing better than expected while Suke is slightly below expectations.
Mohammad Azlan told StarBiz this may possibly be due to the decision of opening Suke in three separate phases, which caused a slight delay in revealing the entire stretch’s full impact.
“We are just about six months in (since the opening of Suke), so I think it is going to take a bit of time before we completely unlock its full potential.
“Hopefully, by year-end, we can see the highway’s performance as a whole as opposed to just a forecast,” he said.
Based on Prolintas Infra BT’s total issued units of 1.1 billion, the stock is listed with a market capitalisation of RM1.05bil.
Meanwhile, the implied dividend yield stands at 6.7% based on an initial public offering price of 95 sen per share.
As per Prolintas Infra BT’s distribution policy, the trustee-manager aims to pay out to unitholders at least 90% of its distributable income annually, with RM70mil being the specific target for the fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2024.
Prolintas Infra BT closed two sen up to 97 sen. It was the eighth most active stock with 48.21 million shares traded.
