PETALING JAYA: Diversified group Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd
’s third quarter ended Sept 30 (3Q25) and nine months to Sept 30 or 9M25 results underperformed analysts’ expectations again.
Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB), however, maintained its earnings estimates for the company and its RM1.66 target price on 12 times financial year ending Dec 31, 72025 (FY25) price earnings ratio (PER), pending its scheduled analyst briefing.
“We believe the commissioning of its phosphate plant in September ought to positively impact its earnings meaningfully from 4Q25 onwards. We continue to like Cahya Mata as a Sarawak proxy play.”
It posted a net profit of RM32.12mil in 3Q25, compared with a net loss of RM9.22mil a year earlier, as revenue increased 1.8% to RM305.37mil from RM299.91mil.
The company said increased contributions from its cement, road maintenance and property development business units, coupled with stronger joint-venture performance, were the main reasons for the better performance.
For the 9M25 period, Cahya Mata saw its net profit falling 26.1% to RM46.13mil from RM62.39mil while total revenue dropped 6.6% to RM798.42mil from RM855.27mil earlier.
Maybank IB said upside for the group include the rollout of major infrastructure projects which will be positive for its cement, construction materials and trading operations.
Sizeable property land sale as the group’s existing land bank which is carried at low cost in its books, is also an upside, added the research house.
Additionally, a positive outcome of the legal dispute relating to its phosphate operation where Cahya Mata Phosphates had filed a claim of RM1.21bil for losses, and better-than-expected contribution from Cahya Mata Phosphates, are also positives for the group.
Downsides are market share loss to new cement players in Sarawak and a delay in the rollout of major infrastructure projects.
Additional negatives include volatility in raw material and fuel prices which will impact cement and construction materials earnings while a negative outcome of the legal dispute relating to its phosphate operations would also be a bane for the group.
MBSB Research said it observed encouraging signs of the company’s structural catalysts beginning to materialise, reflected in revenue growth across key divisions.
It is maintaining its earnings estimates with the expectations of a stronger 4Q25.
“We maintain our ‘buy’ call on the stock with an unchanged target price of RM1.49, pegging its FY26 earnings per share of 14.2 sen to its two-year mean PER of 10.5 times.”
At last look, the stock was at RM1.38 each.
