Mercury Industries jumps 8.73% on bagging RM238 mil job

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Mercury Industries Bhd rose 8.73% in thin trade this morning after its 70%-owned construction unit Paramount Bounty Sdn Bhd (PBSB) won a mixed development project worth RM238 million in Gombak, Selangor.

At 11.02am, Mercury rose 11 sen to RM1.37 with 274,300 shares done for a market capitalisation of RM55.05 million.

The project comprises 1,632 units of small-office home-office (SOHO) and 32 shop lots, said Mercury Industries in a filing.

The contract was awarded via a letter of appointment by Veritas Architects Sdn Bhd, the architect appointed by Pujian Development Sdn Bhd, which in turn is the turnkey contractor for EcoFirst Hartz Sdn Bhd.

In the past six months, PBSB has padded Mercury's earnings with an increase of up to 11% in net profit at RM2.2 million in its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 (3QFY16) from RM2 million a year ago.

Its cumulative nine months (9MFY16) saw net profit gain nearly 9% at RM5 million from RM4.6 million in 9MFY15, while revenue climbed 85.6% to RM83.1 million compared to RM44.8 million.

Correspondingly, its share price has grown 14% since August last year and 7.9% year to date.

PBSB was acquired at RM43 million in August 2015, marking Mercury's entry into the construction sector, and has since been bagging construction projects, including a RM106.6 million 1Malaysia People's Housing Programme (PR1MA) Homes contract in January last year. — theedgemarkets.com

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