George Kent declares highest dividend payout

by **Cals** Fri 28 Mar 2014, 11:55

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Wei Lynn Tang of theedgemalaysia.com

Friday, 28 March 2014 09:13

KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd is proposing a final dividend of four sen, bringing total dividends declared and proposed in financial year ended Jan 31, 2014 (FY14) to RM15.77 million — the highest payout for the group.

Its dividend payout represents a 44% increase from the previous year.

“The group delivered a stellar performance in FY14, boosted by growth in both our core divisions of water and construction, and manufacturing, meters and industrial products. This marks another record year for George Kent, where our group revenue and profits reached all-time highs,” said chairman Tan Sri Datuk Tan Kay Hock in a statement yesterday.

“Our pre-tax profit has grown at a compounded rate of 20% over the last 10 years. The sterling results are due to the successful execution of the strategies put in place by the board,” he added.

For FY14, the group posted record net profit of RM35.99 million, up 40.8% from RM25.56 million the previous year, on an 82.9% increase in revenue to RM506.3 million from RM276.81 million. Earnings per share (EPS) also increased 42% to 16 sen from 11.3 sen in FY13.

For its fourth quarter (4QFY14), George Kent reported a 74.7% increase in net profit to RM18.27 million from RM10.46 million a year ago, while revenue surged 117.7% to RM266.81 million from RM122.57 million.

The increase was contributed by the construction segment, which saw its revenue jump 202% to RM231.3 million, due to the steady progress of the Ampang Line extension project. George Kent was awarded the RM1.084 billion extension system works by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd in July 2012.

George Kent said its existing construction order book will keep the group busy “for many years” and its high progress billings will provide good earnings growth visibility in its water and construction division going forward.

Moving forward, the group is actively pursuing new construction projects to further expand its order book, with focus in the water and healthcare sectors, as well as rail, where there are potential opportunities to compete and secure contracts from new phases of the MRT and LRT lines.

“We will continue to focus on achieving manufacturing efficiencies and productivity. We will also intensify efforts to grow our order book. Overall, we remain confident that we have the ready platform to further pursue our growth strategy in both our water and construction and manufacturing, meters and industrial products divisions, and to sustain this momentum going forward,” said Tan.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 28, 2014.