MRCB net profit more than doubled

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) made a net profit of RM10.5mil for its first quarter ended March 31, 2017, up 2.4 times from the RM4.38mil posted in the same quarter a year ago.

The developer of transportation hub KL Sentral posted a 20% increase in revenue during the quarter to RM524.85mil from RM436.01mil previously.

MRCB attributed the higher performance of the group’s topline and bottomline to property sales in KL Sentral and Melbourne, Australia.

Group managing director Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said in a statement that the improved performance was driven by stronger reve- nue from its property development division as well as recurring income from its property investments in KL Sentral and Shah Alam.

“The property development division also recorded revenue and profits from its ongoing property development projects, namely the 9 Seputeh mixed development in Jalan Klang Lama, the office towers at PJ Sentral Garden City and Menara MRCB in Putrajaya as well as the strong contributions from Sentral Residences and Easton Burwood in Melbourne,” he said.

As at March 31, MRCB said it had accumulated unbilled sales of RM1.5bil.

MRCB is currently in the midst of raising fund through a rights issue exercise amounting to RM2.2bil to fund the future growth of the company, which includes the potential RM49bil gross development value of its land bank and five large-scale transportation hubs across the Klang Valley and Penang.

“Over the long term, the group’s land bank will provide a sustainable pipeline of revenue from property development projects centered around mass transportation infrastructure,” MRCB said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Meanwhile, on the company’s engineering, construction and environment division, MRCB said revenue for the first quarter was mainly contributed from refurbishment and upgrading works at the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil and the ongoing construction of MRCB’s property development projects.

“Revenue was also recognised from the construction of several commercial buildings for clients in Johor, power transmission related construction projects across Peninsular Malaysia and other civil engineering projects in the Klang Valley,” MRCB said.

MRCB’s external construction order book currently stands at RM7bil.

Shares in MRCB closed one sen higher to RM1.41 yesterday.