PETALING JAYA: IJM Corp Bhd
is confident that its construction division would be able to deliver a better performance in the financial year ending March 2027 (FY27), on the back of its order book in hand of RM14.7bil.
This is despite recognising that the Malaysian property market is showing early signs of softening, driven by weaker consumer sentiment.
As such, the group said its property segment remains committed to driving sales of its existing projects by adopting a responsive market strategy and enhancing product differentiation to align with evolving buyer expectations and affordability thresholds, with the objective of achieving improved performance in FY27.
IJM has had a challenging FY26, which showed that for the fourth quarter ended March (4Q26), the group had slid into the red with a net loss of RM173.9mil, compared to a net profit of RM129mil a year ago.
This is despite a 4.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) improvement in 4Q26 revenue to RM1.87bil.
For FY26 as a whole, the constructor posted a 10% y-o-y gain in turnover to RM6.88bil, its highest ever, although bottom line plunged to RM3.25mil, less than 1% the RM403.4mil garnered for FY25.
Elaborating, IJM said the revenue growth was mainly contributed by higher income from the group’s construction as well as manufacturing & quarrying divisions.
On the other hand, it said the net loss in 4Q26, which contributed to the fall in net profit for FY26, was primarily due to net foreign exchange losses of RM94.7mil in 4Q26 and RM197.9mil for FY26; on top of the recognition of an impairment on unsold inventories of RM121.6mil, including an office building in Changchun, China.
Additionally, the group said a provision for maintenance costs for a highway in India of RM51.0mil, coupled with weaker performance from its property and port divisions also contributed to the weaker profitability.
IJM had performed better in the preceding quarter ended December 2025 (3Q26) in terms of profitability, where it had posted a net profit of RM15.8mil, although revenue for 4Q26 did improve a commendable 16.3% from RM1.61bil.
Similarly, the group attributed the loss in 4Q26 to the higher unfavourable foreign exchange losses and lower profit contribution from its property development division and toll division due to the impairment of inventories and provision of maintenance costs.
Despite the difficult quarter, IJM had kept up its dividend policy from the last fiscal year, proposing a dividend of six sen per share, bringing total dividends declared in FY26 to eight sen per share.
On that note, IJM said it had formalised a new dividend policy committing to at least 40% of annual core PATAMI or profit after tax and minority interest.
Looking ahead, it said its earnings will be further supported by the disposal of land parcels.
“The industry division is expected to continue its strong performance achieved in the past few financial years given its solid order book in hand and the expected continued rollout of data centres, large-scale industrial buildings and infrastructure jobs.
“The toll division is expected to continue to provide steady revenue streams to the group via its existing mature concessions. The recently secured NPE 2 (New Pantai Expressway 2) will provide long-term earnings visibility for the division,” said IJM.
Meanwhile, it said its Port business expects a mixed outlook on the back of the progressive resumption of business activities of a major customer, but it is staying cautious on the negative effect on global trade pursuant to geopolitical tensions.
Moreover, IJM said while its headline numbers were affected by one-off non-cash items, the group's core operations had held up well — Construction and Industry in particular had strong years.
For FY27, IJM is in motion a proposed listing of its construction arm, monetisation of its Malaysian toll concessions, and a structured exit from India.
"Together, these are targeted to return RM3bill to shareholders over the next three years, translating to 83 sen per share," it told StarBiz, before adding that its Construction segment had secured RM9.3bil in new orders, driven by the data centre and industrial buildings boom.
"FY26 was also Industry division's fourth consecutive record year, with its highest-ever monthly order secured in April 2026.
“Barring the uncertain macroeconomic outlook due to geopolitical tensions, the group is confident that it can deliver an improved operational performance for the new financial year,” it said in a bourse filing.
