IJM’s first quarter net profit jumps 9.4% to RM126.4m

PETALING JAYA: IJM Corp Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2017 jumped 9.4% to RM126.4 million from RM115.52 million a year ago mainly due to improved earnings from the group’s construction, property development and infrastructure divisions.

Its revenue rose 12% to RM1.47 billion from RM1.31 billion following increased revenue contributed by all the divisions of the group.

The group told Bursa Malaysia that its construction division expects the market outlook to remain encouraging based on a record level of RM8.7 billion of outstanding order book, underpinned by the implementation of ongoing domestic infrastructural projects as well as a healthy pipeline of new large public infrastructure projects to be rolled out under the 11th Malaysia Plan.

The local property market is expected to remain challenging as weak consumer sentiment still persists due to weaker economic prospects, continued stringent mortgage approval and incoming supply of new launches and competing completed properties.

“Nonetheless, the property development division will remain steadfast to grow its business in view of the strategic locations of its properties and the brand premium that it has established. With unbilled sales of about RM1.7 billion, the division is expected to maintain a satisfactory performance in the current financial year,” it noted.

Meanwhile, its plantation division expects the profitability level for the current financial year to be satisfactory on the back of higher crop production from the increasing young mature areas in Indonesia and fresh fruit bunches yields being sustained in the Malaysian operations.

Despite the challenging business environment, IJM expects a reasonable performance for the current financial year.

The stock closed 0.89% lower at RM3.36 with 3.4 million shares traded.