AME Elite ends FY22 on lower note, declares 2.5 sen dividend

KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): Industrial property developer AME Elite Consortium Bhd saw its net profit fall 9% to RM48.56 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2022 (FY22) from RM53.48 million in the previous year, on lower revenue.

This resulted in lower earnings per share of 7.58 sen for FY22 compared with 8.35 sen for FY21.

Revenue also came in lower at RM398.39 million in FY22, down 14% from RM460.61 million in FY21, due to lower revenue across most of its business segments of construction, property development and engineering.

Nevertheless, the group declared an interim dividend of 2.5 sen per share for FY22, payable on July 7.

In a bourse filing on Thursday (May 26), AME said rental income increased by RM6.69 million to RM43.05 million for the year. However, this was not enough to offset the 27.3% and 30.13% decrease in revenue of its property development and engineering services respectively.

It blamed the decrease in the property development revenue to lower stages of work completed and timing of income recognition, while the lower engineering services revenue was mainly due to most of the existing engineering projects being near completion, where the revenue recognition was lesser.

For the fourth financial quarter ended March 31, 2022 (4QFY22), it posted a net profit of RM20.88 million, down 3% from RM21.62 million, while revenue fell 15% to RM139.73 million from RM163.31 million in 4QFY21.

On prospects for FY23, AME expects continued pressure from the rising costs of building materials given the supply chain disruption.

"Nevertheless, the group has been proactively taking measures to mitigate the negative impact to enhance the group’s profitability," it said, adding that it expects to achieve a better financial performance for FY23.

It achieved record new sales of RM168.4 million in FY22, driven by sales of industrial properties located at the group’s i-Parks in Senai Airport City and Indahpura, as well as its new i-TechValley, where sales were 20% higher than the RM140.3 million new sales achieved a year ago, the group said in a separate statement.

Following on from the record sales, AME’s property development segment recorded unbilled sales of RM91.3 million as at March 31, 2022 from its i-Park developments. Besides that, AME’s orderbook stood at RM399.8 million for its construction projects in Johor, as well as engineering activities.

The unbilled sales and most of the orderbook are expected to be recognised in FY23.

AME group managing director Kelvin Lee Chai said the momentum for strong foreign and domestic direct investments’ enquiries continued past FY2022, as borders reopened in April.

“Malaysia’s reopening of international borders has expedited our sales conversion process, as our potential foreign customers can now progress from virtual enquiries to physical site visits.

“Furthermore, the recent activation of lockdown measures in major economies have prompted an increasing number of manufacturers to diversify their manufacturing plants in emerging markets in Southeast Asia to strengthen their supply chain resilience.

“This is therefore a tremendous opportunity for AME to capture this uptrend,” said Lee.

AME shares closed unchanged at RM1.65 on Thursday, valuing the group at RM1.06 billion. The counter has appreciated by 7.84% over the past 12 months.