Eversendai reports lower 3Q profit, targets RM1.8 bil new contracts

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): Eversendai Corp Bhd achieved a historic RM2.7 billion order book as at the end of its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016 (3QFY16).

It has secured RM1.8 billion worth of new contracts to date with the possibility of exceeding a RM2 billion threshold before the end of the year, the group said in a statement today.

About 39.4% of the order book came from the group's traditional stronghold in the Middle East region, 25.1% from Southeast Asia, 20.2% from India and the remaining 15.3% is from the oil and gas segment.

For 3QFY16, the group's net profit halved to RM7.28 million or 94 sen per share from RM14.58 million or 1.88 a share in 3QFY15.

Revenue fell 21% to RM371.36 million from RM471.48 million, the group said in a Bursa Malaysia filing today.

The group said this is mainly due to the timing difference of the near completion of significant projects on hand while the significant new projects are still at the initial stages of execution.

Eversendai has over 20 ongoing projects and attributes the bulk of its revenue to projects based in the Middle East.

"The Middle East region continues to drive the group's revenue by contributing 57.2% of the total revenue from their operations in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar," it said.

"The balance of the group's revenue was derived mainly from the operations in Malaysia and Thailand (12.5%), India (8.8%) and the oil and gas segment (21.5%)," it added.

Eversendai's share price closed one sen or 1.89% lower at 52 sen, for a market capitalisation of RM402.48 million.