KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — IJM Corp Bhd’s net profit soared by 190 per cent to RM144.5 million in the third quarter ended December 31, 2020 (Q3 2021), from RM49.77 million in the same period a year ago.
Revenue jumped to RM1.71 billion from RM1.44 billion previously, it said in a statement today.
Chief executive officer and managing director Liew Hau Seng said the group’s businesses were able to continue operating when the conditional movement control order (CMCO) was reimplemented in certain states on October 14, 2020.
IJM’s core business activities encompass construction, property development, manufacturing, quarrying, infrastructure concessions, and plantations.
Overall, the group’s financial performance in the quarter under review was broad-based with all divisions posting higher revenue and profits, except for its toll division.
Meanwhile, its construction division’s revenue increased by 7.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM520.3 million and its property division’s revenue increased by 63 per cent y-o-y to RM529.8 million from RM325.1 million in Q3 2020.
This was mainly due to higher sales of completed stocks, as well as the completion of certain projects such as Suria Pantai in Pantai Sentral Park, Ara Impian in S2 Heights, Seremban, and Riana South in Cheras.
Its plantation division’s revenue rose 14.4 per cent y-o-y to RM272 million amid higher commodity prices.
IJM noted that during the quarter, the Indonesian rupiah strengthened against both the US dollar and the Japanese yen, resulting in a net foreign exchange gain of RM29.5 million on the foreign currency-denominated borrowings.
Additionally, its industry division saw a three per cent y-o-y rise in revenue to RM198.3 million in Q3 2021.
Conversely, its infrastructure division’s revenue decreased by 4.9 per cent y-o-y to RM192.8 million due to lower local traffic volume across its highway concessions from the implementation of the CMCO.
Liew said IJM expects a gradual recovery in the business landscape, arising from the government’s efforts to revitalise the economy through an expansionary Budget 2021 and Covid-19 stimulus measures.
“At end-December 2020, we have a healthy outstanding construction order book of RM5 billion that comprises a good mix of private and public sector projects, providing the group with good earnings visibility over the next few years.
“High profile job wins such as The Light City in Gelugor, Penang, as well as TRX Residences in the Kuala Lumpur city centre are an encouraging boost to our order book portfolio,” he noted.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, IJM also managed to register sales of RM400 million in the quarter on the back of encouraging take-up of mid-range properties.
“Despite disruptions in global trade brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Kuantan Port continues to chalk up y-o-y growth in cargo throughput volume.
“The opportunities for Kuantan Port are sizeable, and the expansion of Phase 1 of the New Deep Water Terminal has been timely to capture the incoming growth from the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP),” Liew said.
He added that as Malaysia continues to see interest from new foreign direct investments into MCKIP, coupled with the government’s commitment to supporting infrastructure development in the area, predominantly through the East Coast Rail Link project, IJM is confident that the port will play a pivotal role as a catalyst to the economic development in the east coast region.
Consistent with its past practices, no dividend was declared in the third quarter. — Bernama
