KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): IGB Bhd’s net profit in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18) jumped 53.65% to RM92.01 million from RM59.88 million the year before on lower cost of sales, expenses, and taxes in the period, although its revenue came in lower.

Quarterly earnings per share ballooned to 13.76 sen from 9.84 sen. The increase, it added, was also due to higher contribution from its property development and property investment-retail divisions.

Revenue slipped 5.81% to RM361.1 million in 4QFY18 from RM383.39 million as revenue from property development and hotel operations slipped.

The group closed the year FY18 with net profit rising 9.44% on-year to RM235.64 million from RM215.14 million the year before, as revenue climbed 6.53% to RM1.3 billion from RM1.22 billion in FY17.

The higher profit came on lower profit attributable to non-controlling interests. In terms of pre-tax profit, IGB saw a 2.18% decrease to RM480.59 million, due to one-off gain of disposal worth RM34.1 million in FY17, as well as lower profit from associates and joint ventures in the period under review.

Moving forward, IGB expects a more challenging environment across all fronts.

For the property investment segment, this would be caused by additional supply of retail space supply and lower demand in the office space although the prime position of its buildings could translate to a satisfactory contribution.

A weak sentiment in the property development market is also expected to pose a challenging year for the segment, IGB added.

The hotel segment, which saw an 8% decline in revenue from lower average occupancy rates, is expected to face another challenging year, it said.

Shares of IGB Bhd closed unchanged at RM2.50, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.72 billion.