IJM's net profit for the third quarter grew 34.2% year-on-year to RM100.4mil.
PETALING JAYA: IJM Corp Bhd
is generally bullish about its prospects for its financial year ending March 2024 (FY24), buoyed by the promising outlook for both its property and industry divisions.
The group credited Bank Negara’s pause in overnight policy rate hikes, improving consumer sentiment and its unbilled sales of about RM2.5bil for its expectation of its property segment to deliver a strong performance in FY24.
At the same time, strong orders in hand, as well as improved contribution from toll operations in the absence of the maintenance costs incurred by its overseas tollway, should also stand IJM’s infrastructure segment in good stead.
Releasing its results for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (3Q24), the group saw its net profit growing a handsome 34.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM100.4mil, as revenue also likewise escalated by 34% to RM1.48bil.
Cumulatively, for the nine months up to Dec 31 (9M24), net earnings more than doubled to RM295mil, while turnover also went up by 28.2% to RM4.2bil.
Attributing several performance improvements seen in its respective divisions, IJM Corp reported that for its property segment, the growth in earnings was due to the higher level of work progress achieved for the division’s ongoing developments.
It was complemented by the completion of two parcels of land sales in Kuala Lumpur and IJM Rimbayu.
“As a result, pre-tax profit for 3Q24 and 9M24 increased significantly by 56.% and 97.4% respectively y-o-y, due to the higher revenue combined with the rise in profit margin that are derived from the current portfolio mix of ongoing projects, as well as the gain arising from the said land sales,” it noted.
Higher work activities for its construction division in both 3Q23 and 9M24 were also attributed to the climb in net profit and revenue.
Nevertheless, IJM acknowledged that the surge in pre-tax profit for the segment during the quarter was also primarily due to higher share of losses in associates in 3Q23.
“On the other hand, pre-tax profit for 9M24 decreased by 26.6% as compared to 9M23, as the profit margins for some of the ongoing projects were negatively impacted by the material and commodity price increases and prolongation cost,” it added.
Meanwhile, compared with the preceding three months ended Sept 30, net profit improved by 7.2%, which IJM said was primarily attributable to the recognition of unrealised foreign exchange gains of RM20.3mil during 3Q24.
The group did not declare any dividend for the quarter in review, maintaining the dividend declared for the year at two sen per share after its declaration in the previous quarter.
Expecting also its industry and port segments to perform positively for the final quarter of FY24, IJM said it is confident of posting an improved showing for the rest of the fiscal year.
