KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Malakoff Corp Bhd’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 (4QFY21) declined by 77.89% to RM9.21 million from RM41.64 million in FY20 due to write-offs and impairments, despite higher revenues.

Earnings per share (EPS) declined to 0.19 sen from 0.85 sen, its filing revealed.

Malakoff’s 4Q revenue was 28.4% up to RM1.94 billion from RM1.51 billion, mainly due to higher energy payments from Tanjung Bin Power Sdn Bhd (TBP) on the back of higher applicable coal prices (ACP).

For financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21), the company reported a 11.2% decline in net profit to RM254.55 million compared to RM286.58 million, primarily due to the write-off of deferred expenses of Segari Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd (SEV), lower contribution from Tanjung Bin Energy Sdn Bhd (TBE) resulting from lower capacity payment and impairment of assets caused by plant outage, as well as the absence of TBE’s settlement agreement with Alstom Power System and GE Power Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

Malakoff added the impact of TBE and SEV was partially moderated by TPB’s higher contribution on the back of higher ACP as well as higher contributions from Alam Flora Sdn Bhd (AFSB) and foreign investments in associates.

The utilities group also highlighted that AFSB’s contribution to its bottom line had increased to RM193.4 million from RM64.6 million, the result of operational initiatives and gains arising from the remeasurement of financial liabilities.

“Excluding the extraordinary items consisting of the SEV write-off and AFSB's remeasurement of financial liabilities in FY2021 as well as the TBE settlement gain in FY20, the group’s core profit after tax and minority interests improved by 26.7% from RM254 million in FY2020 to RM321.7 million in FY21,” Malakoff said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 23).

No dividend was declared for the quarter as Malakoff said it will only be making an announcement on the final dividend for FY21 upon conclusion of the audited financial statements in March 2022.

Year-to-date, Malakoff has distributed a total dividend of 3.10 sen per share, two sen lower than FY20’s 5.10 sen.

“Renewable Energy (RE) and Environmental Solutions will be the key growth drivers of Malakoff as the company advances its transition to a cleaner energy and circular economy future,” Malakoff’s managing director and chief executive officer Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said.

He added that Malakoff had successfully achieved commercial operations of the Rooftop Solar projects for POS Malaysia Bhd, DRB-HICOM Bhd and UMW Holdings with a total capacity of 11 MWp (Megawatt peak).

“The group continues to accelerate its expansion in Rooftop Solar as we collaborate with key clients to support their sustainability agenda of harnessing energy from green sources.

“On the Environmental Solutions front, AFSB’s Construction & Demolition (C&D) Waste facility in the state of Pahang is expected to be fully operational by the end of 1Q22.

“The 120-tonne per day facility is part of the group’s initiative to capture new revenue streams from inert waste.”

At market close, Malakoff shares were one sen or 1.40% lower to 70.5 sen, giving the utilities group a market capitalisation of RM3.45 billion based on 4.89 billion shares. 

It is currently trading at 12.01 times earnings while its dividend yield stood at 7.66% based on Bloomberg data. 

Year-to-date, the utilities counter had declined by two sen or 2.08% from 72 sen.