DRB-Hicom fourth quarter profit more than doubles

by **Cals** Fri 30 May 2014, 19:45

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Charlotte Chong of theedgemalaysia.com

Friday, 30 May 2014 09:47

KUALA LUMPUR: DRB-Hicom Bhd’s net profit more than doubled to RM166.97 million for the fourth quarter ended March 31 of financial year 2014 (4QFY14) from RM70.59 million, while revenue climbed 24% to RM4.17 billion from RM3.36 billion a year ago. Earnings per share also soared to 8.64 sen from 3.65 sen.

The diversified group has declared a dividend per share of 4.5 sen in the quarter, bringing the total to six sen for FY14.

For its full year ended March, 2014 the group raked in a net profit of RM456.82 million, down 20.6% from RM575.31 million in 2013, despite higher revenue of RM14.2 billion, up 8.1% from RM13.13 billion.

DRB-Hicom said in a statement yesterday that all its three business sectors, namely automotive and defence (AD), services, and property, asset and construction (PAC) contributed to the revenue growth.

“The AD sector growth was mainly driven by the progress in the AV8 project and the inclusion of aerospace composite business, which was acquired during the year through Composite Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd.”

The services sector saw improvements in its concession businesses, while recognition of revenue from the disposal of land parcels in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor contributed to the higher revenue in the PAC sector, said DRB-Hicom.

Despite the higher profit and revenue posted in the fourth quarter, the group’s profit before taxation for its full year, excluding exceptional items, decreased to RM601.9 million from RM624.8 million or 3.7% compared with the previous financial year, it said.

The drop was attributed to the more challenging and competitive automotive business environment, which resulted in a margin compression for the automotive distribution business, as well as the general increase in the cost of doing business.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 30, 2014.