BY DALJIT DHESI

PETALING JAYA: Bina Darulaman Bhd (BDB) saw its fourth quarter net profit surged by 61% to RM23.3mil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 from RM14.4mil a year ago due to higher contribution by the group’s property division.

Revenue for the period jumped by 45% to RM153.9mil compared with RM105.8mil previously, mainly from TTIS enclave sales and land sales.
Earnings per share rose to 7.65 sen compared with 4.74 sen previously.

In  a filing with Bursa Malaysia, BDB said its property division for the period under review contributed RM95.4mil to group revenue compared with RM34.9mil previously, an increase of 173%.

The increase of the revenue was mainly due to higher sales coming from Bandar Darulaman and Darulaman Perdana townships and sales of land.
Similarly, profit contribution stood at RM38.4mil, an increase by RM27.2mil compared to the previous year’s corresponding period from higher sales performance of its properties and land sales.

For the quarter under review, profit contribution from the road and quarry division decreased to RM9.2mil from RM15mil. Similarly, the division’s contribution to group revenue dropped to RM41.1mil compared with RM59.9mil.

The construction division provided RM15.5mil to group revenue compared with RM8.7mil previously, an increase of 78%. This was mainly due to higher external projects like SADA water treatment plant and PPR Ayer Hitam undertaken during the period.

However, profit contribution for the division decreased arising from early settlement of KUIN project financing.

For the full year, BDB’s net profit stood at RM34mil as opposed to RM24.2mil previously. Revenue stood at RM356.6mil against RM243.3mil, representing an increase of 47%.

For the 12 months, the property division recorded higher revenue of RM213.0mil compared with RM107.0mil in 2015. Similarly, BDB’s higher profit for the year was mainly due to the higher sales performance of its properties and land sales.

The road and quarry division recorded a 9% higher revenue of RM111.5mil against RM102.6mil in the previous year. It was mainly due to third party project such as PROPEL road maintenance which was higher compared to last year.

Similarly, this division recorded higher profit of RM25.9mil compared with RM24.6mil, which is an increase of 5%.

However, the construction division contributed slightly lower revenue of RM25.6mil compared with RM25.8mil in 2015. The division recorded a lower profit of RM4.0mil against RM16.3mil   arising from early settlement of KUIN project financing.

In spite of current economic conditions, the group expects to turn in a respectable  performance this year.

BDB group’s core businesses are expected to record respectable performance for this financial year as it has sufficient land bank and projects in hand to provide sustainable revenue.

BDB said the property division would focus its launches on affordable segment and would only roll out higher range products on small scale basis. Besides the three existing townships, two more townships are expected to be launched by end of 2017.

In addition, Kedah Holdings would also launch its Kuala Kangsar project before mid-year 2017.

Those projects would allow the property division to remain as a key contributor for revenue and profit for the BDB group this year.