Kumpulan Europlus' 2Q profit soars 82%, as revenue rises 22-fold

by **Cals** Wed 18 Nov 2015, 01:05

Kumpulan Europlus' 2Q profit soars 82%, as revenue rises 22-fold

By Ahmad Naqib Idris / theedgemarkets.com | November 17, 2015 : 7:39 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): [size=16]Kumpulan Europlus Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 0.90, Fundamental: 2.00)'s net profit soared 82% to RM15.19 million for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (2QFY15), on higher interest and distribution income, besides lower interest expense.

It reported a net profit of RM8.34 million in the same quarter last year, its filing to Bursa Malaysia today showed.

Its latest quarterly revenue rose 22-fold to RM60.18 million from RM2.67 million a year earlier, primarily because of better construction contribution.

"The increase is largely due to the construction revenue recognised in the current quarter pursuant to IC Interpretation 12 (IC12) Service Concession Arrangements pertaining to the [West Coast Expressway] highway project," it said.

For the half-year period to Sept 30 (1HFY15), however, net profit dropped 46% to RM25.91 million from RM47.68 million in 1HFY14, even as its revenue soared over 40 times to RM224.13 million from RM5.28 million.

This is primarily because of higher cost of sales (1HFY15's RM221.63 million vs 1HFY14's RM4.44 million) and lower other income (1HFY15's RM14.57 million vs 1HFY14's RM45.73 million).

Going forward, Kumpulan Europlus expects satisfactory results for its current financial year, as the West Coast Expressway project — for which its joint venture with IJM Construction Sdn Bhd has been appointed as the turnkey/engineering and procurement contractor — is on track.

The company also expects the property market to remain soft due to the weak consumer sentiment and tighter borrowing regulations.

However, it expects the Bandar Rimbayu development to register a satisfactory performance, on the back of unbilled sales.

Shares in Kumpulan Europlus rose 1.5 sen or 1.8% to close at 84.5 sen, bringing its market capitalisation to RM847.3 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)
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