SunCon’s 4Q profit down 30% on weaker construction segment

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 21): Sunway Construction Group Bhd’s (SunCon) net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4QFY2022) declined 29.48% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM45.65 million from RM64.73 million, dragged mainly by lower contribution from its construction segment.

The year-on-year variation in the construction segment was due to normalisation of works to full capacity and peak progress in projects, as well as re-calibration of margin for projects nearing completion, SunCon said.

Earnings per share during the quarter decreased to 3.54 sen from 5.01 sen in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter also fell 19.66% to RM503.43 million from RM626.61 million in the previous year.

The group declared a second interim single-tier dividend of 2.5 sen per share, payable on April 6. This brings the total dividend for the full year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022) to 5.5 sen, compared with 5.25 sen for FY2021.

Nonetheless, SunCon’s FY2022 net profit increased 20.07% y-o-y to RM135.18 million from RM112.59 million, while revenue rose 24.64% to RM2.16 billion from RM1.73 billion.

The encouraging set of financial performance in FY2022 was underpinned by better performance from both construction and precast concrete segments.

Group managing director Liew Kok Wing, in a statement, pointed to the group’s “record profit before tax [of RM184.06 million] in FY2022”.

It also surpassed its FY2022 new order book target to end the year at RM2.6 billion, compared to the target of RM2 billion, Liew said.

“We continue to make good progress in our regionalisation and new business expansion efforts. The group has recently secured our maiden hyperscale data centre project valued at approximately RM1.7 billion in Sedenak Tech Park, Johor,” he added.

Shares of SunCon settled three sen or 1.85% higher at RM1.65, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM2.13 billion.