PETALING JAYA: SMRT Holdings Bhd
is expected to post sequential growth in the first half of financial year 2025 (1H25) as utility companies typically ramp up capital expenditure (capex) spending during this period.
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research said the pure play Internet of things company’s financial year 2024 (FY24) core net profit of RM26.1mil came in above its projection at 113%.
The outperformance was mainly driven by stronger-than expected site deployments throughout the year.
“The FY24 core profit after tax was derived after adjusting for one-off disposal gain of its investment in subsidiary and foreign exchange loss amounting to RM574,000,” the research house said in a report.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, HLIB Research said SMRT’s top line increased 11.2% as the third quarter (3Q) tends to be the weakest quarter of the financial year due to fewer working days during the festival season. Moreover, geographically, sales in Malaysia rose by 8.4%, while overseas sales declined by 6.2%.
On a year-on-year basis, HLIB Research said the group’s sales gained 1.5% led by robust performance in overseas markets followed by Malaysia. It said SMRT remains optimistic about reaching 1,000 Pito AxM Platform sites in the Philippines by 2Q.
It has maintained a “buy” call on SMRT with a target price of RM2.28.
