KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd’s net profit for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2020 (FY2020), declined to RM41.59 mil from RM86.33 mil recorded in FY2019.
Revenue slipped to RM335.81 mil from RM431.63 mil previously, the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Its chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock said the company’s engineering division registered lower profits for the financial year due to the reduced pace of work on the Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3).
“In spite of this, the group’s results were credible, demonstrating the robustness of the group’s businesses.
“The metering division’s performance continued to be resilient, and although there was a retiming of some export orders, we achieved growth in revenue for sales to local authorities in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
He said that the group received the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s approval on April 19 to resume manufacturing activities during the movement control order (MCO) period under strict labour movement conditions.
“This enabled us to reactivate our production line on April 20, albeit on a limited scale.
“Subsequently, the government announced that companies in the approved economic sectors are permitted to operate with full workforce capacity and without limitation in operating time effective April 29, again under strict labour movement conditions,” he added.
Whilst the group is taking steps to return to normalcy, Tan said it will take some time for production to reach full capacity.
“We will further accelerate growth by substantially increasing our investments in rail and water-related projects through mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnerships,” he added.
In FY2020, the company had paid dividends totalling RM13.44 mil. However, in view of the current uncertain business environment, the board of directors did not propose paying a further dividend for the year under review. – April 30, 2020, Bernama
