KUCHING: Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd’s (CMS) earnings for the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14) rose 65.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM66.12 millio, boosted my income from cement, construction and property development.
The infrastructure company in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday said its net profit for the first half of 2014 (1H14) also jumped 53 per cent y-o-y to RM105.1 million.
At the same time, its turnover for 2Q14 increased 13.3 per cent y-o-y to RM383.36 million while revenue for 1H14 grew 16.6 per cent y-o-y to RM756.6 million.
Meawhile, CMS in a separate statement said the group’s profit before tax (PBT) for 1H14 gained 33 per cent y-o-y to RM164.84 million from RM123.63 in 1H13.
The main contributors towards the solid PBT earnings, it said, were the cement, construction and road maintenance and property development divisions.
On the company’s segmental financial performance, CMS’ cement division recorded a PBT of RM58.77 million in 1H14, an increase of 30 per cent y-o-y compared with RM45.19 million in 1H13.
CMS added that property development division registered a PBT of RM39.20 million in 1H14 compared with a loss before tax of RM585,000 in 1H13, which was attributable to the recognition of profits from sale of land and also the increased sale of properties.
Furthermore, CMS said the construction materials and trading and construction and road maintenance divisions also reported higher revenues and PBT compared to the corresponding six-month period of last year.
For 2Q14, CMS observed that its PBT ended June has increased 43 per cent y-o-y to RM98.65 million from RM68.81 million in 2Q13.
The companies 2Q14 PBT of RM98.65 million also demonstrated an increase of 49 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) compared with RM66.19 million recorded in 1Q14 ended March 31.
Commenting on the results, CMS group managing director Datuk Richard Curtis said, “This has been an important quarter for us in terms of meeting performance against targets, which is a credit to our professional and prudent management and staff.
“Significant achievements have been recorded namely by the cement, construction materials and trading, construction and road maintenance and property development divisions, which saw robust rises y-o-y in PBT by 30 per cent, 17 per cent , 16 per cent and 6800 per cent respectively.
“The overall result for 1H14 should be viewed positively as it indicates that the group is on track to deliver strong financial results for the full year of 2014.”
On another note, research firm RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd (RHB Research) in a report yesterday said CMS’ logistics capability has allowed the group to maintain a tight grip on Sarawak’s cement market.
The research firm believed that the group’s cement division is expected to register strong performance this year, in particular when it raised the selling prices earlier this year.
RHB Research noted that CMS is also in the midst of installing a brownfield of 1 million tonne per annum (tpa) grinding plant next to its clinker facility to meet the growing demand, thus raising its profitability.
As for the 2Q14 and 1H14 financial results, RHB Research noted that the company’s higher sales across all divisions has boosted its PBT.
The research firm highlighted that the recognition of two parcels of land sales has lifted its property development division’s sales and PBT by 349 per cent and more than 100 per cent respectively for 2Q14.
As a whole, RHB Research believed that the company is on track to post strong earnings for financial year 2014.