KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Ranhill Utilities Bhd posted a 10% rise in net profit to RM10.22 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), from RM9.32 million a year earlier, on higher earnings in all three of its business segments, namely environment, engineering services and energy.

Earnings per share increased to 0.79 sen from 0.72 sen, the group’s bourse filing on Tuesday showed.

Quarterly revenue surged 40.42% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM609.39 million from RM433.99 million in 2QFY2022, attributed to higher recognition of water revenue contributed by its water supply subsidiary Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd, arising from a non-domestic tariff hike, as well as increased revenue from its engineering unit Ranhill Worley Sdn Bhd.

The surge in revenue was also contributed by recognition of the construction progress of Ranhill Solar I in Bidor, Perak, and higher recognition of net electrical output and capacity factor reported in Ranhill Sabah Energy I Sdn Bhd.

For the cumulative nine-month period (9MFY2023), the group’s net profit leaped 40.9% to RM33.40 million, from RM23.71 million in the same period a year earlier (9MFY2022). The revenue for the period rose 34.0% y-o-y to RM1.72 billion, from RM1.29 billion.

On its prospects, Ranhill Utilities said the government of Indonesia recently upgraded the status of its proposed “Source-to-Tap” project — which aims to supply treated water to three regions, namely DKI Jakarta Selatan, Bekasi City and Bekasi Regency — to the “National Strategic Project”, thus giving it priority and importance.

Ranhill Utilities said it is now awaiting the acceptance of its feasibility studies and the award of “Initiator Status”, before the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing of Republic of Indonesia calls a tender exercise for the implementation of the project.

Ranhill Utilities said its subsidiary has also submitted concession bids for works on two reclamation and waste water treatment plants in Thailand.

“The company’s ability in providing customised solutions and specialised facilities to treat complicated wastewater with complex and demanding waste characteristics, will serve as a competitive edge when bidding for contracts,” it said.

As for its energy division, Ranhill Utilities said the group is looking forward to the expected completion of the Sabah East-West transmission line in 2023, where the transmission line will enable up to 400MW (megawatts) of additional electricity to be dispatched from Sabah’s west coast to the east coast.

“With 380MW of installed capacity in the west coast of Sabah, we view positively the prospect to export electricity to the east coast,” it said.

As the group pursues development of renewable energy in contributing to the country’s energy transition to a cleaner and greener Malaysia, Ranhill Utilities said it is optimistic of its successful tender of the Large Scale Solar 4 @ Mentari project, being Ranhill Utilities’ first venture into asset ownership of 50MWac large scale solar project.

On its engineering services segment, Ranhill Utilities said its engineering unit Ranhill Worley has managed to secure several projects in front end engineering design (FEED) and detailed design engineering (DDE) of oil and gas facilities and installations, as well as carbon capture & storage (CCS) projects.

“Ranhill Worley has proven to be a strong engineering services hub in securing major offshore projects, and [is] recognised as one of Worley’s global businesses centre of excellence for offshore projects worldwide,” it added.

Ranhill Utilities’ share price closed four sen or 4.21% lower at 91 sen on Tuesday, valuing the group at RM1.18 billion.