34. DATUK TEE ENG HO

Flagship: Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd Net worth: RM1.622bil KERJAYA Prospek has been riding high, with the company announcing a successful contract bid almost every other month last year. The construction company’s share price performance reflects the news flow, soaring 86.57% last year and putting Tee, the executive chairman, into the Top-40 list for the first time.

He controls the company through a private vehicle, Amazing Parade Sdn Bhd, which has a 70.8% stake in Kerjaya. Its clients include major property developers who see the use of the industrialised building system, which the company has been deploying since 2010, as costand time-effective.

Tee also has a stake in Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O), a relationship that goes back to a time when Kerjaya was known as Fututech Bhd and was an associate of E&O. He also sits on the board of E&O.

Kerjaya was among five Malaysian firms that got into Forbes 2017 “Best Under a Billion” list. The company targeted RM800mil in contracts for 2017, and if the success rate was to mirror 2016’s, then Kerjaya will easily achieve more than RM1bil in contract wins. In 2016, the company targeted RM600mil in contracts but more than doubled it to RM1.5bil. Last year, the company reported an outstanding order book of RM2.6bil that will keep it busy until 2020.

By almost all financial measurements – earnings, turnover and cashflow – the company is doing well with analysts expecting this year to surpass 2017’s financial performance.

The most significant contract win last year was for Vertu Resort, a condominium project. The company won the RM442mil contract in August from Aspen Vision City Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between Singapore-listed Aspen (Group) Holdings Ltd and Ikea South-East Asia. Kerjaya is also undertaking a construction job from Tee’s privately held property development firm for a mixed-development project with a gross development value of RM1.2bil along Jalan Klang Lama.