KUCHING: Harbour-Link Group Bhd group net profit have more than doubled to RM148 million in financial year to June 30, 2022 (FY2022) from RM60.6 million in FY2021,bolstered by firmer ocean freight rates for intra-Asia trade and increased cargo volume shipped.
Year-on-year, group revenue soared to RM871.2 million from RM609 million or up by RM262.2 million or 43 per cent.
This boosted earnings per share to 37.1sen from 15.18sen previously.
In Q42022, Bintulu-based Harbour-Link posted group net profit of RM64.9 million as compared to RM25.1 million in Q42021 in line with higher turnover of RM294.8 million from RM171.5 million previously.
In the current quarter under review, the shipping and marine segment saw its revenue rose to RM190.9 million (Q42021:RM118.5 million) and its after-tax profit surged to RM66.6 million (RM25.8 million).
The segment comprises of ship owners, ship operator and agency units.
The integrated logistics segment nearly doubled its revenue to RM84.4 million (RM43 million) and posted after-tax profit of RM11.3 million (RM5.1 million).
This segment comprises transport, heavy lifting, equipment sales, rental and freight forwarding units.
The engineering segment also delivered strong financial results with sharply higher revenue of RM18.5 million (RM10 million) and higher after-tax profit of RM3.96 million (RM2.2 million).
The property segment too performed well, with its revenue leap to RM861,000 (RM60,000) and after-tax profit increased to RM959,000 (RM514,000).
However, the investment holding segment suffered wider after-tax loss of RM1.35 million (-RM667,000) on zero revenue.
The Q42022 performance was much improved from the preceding quarter (Q32022) when Harbour-Link registered after-tax profit of RM50.2 million (Q42022:RM76.4 million) and revenue of RM59.5 million (RM80.2 million).
In FY2022, Harbour-Link said the shipping and marine segment recorded revenue of RM564.5 million, which was RM168.5 million or 43 per cent higher than FY2021 of RM396 million.
“The increase in the revenue is due to increase in ocean freight rates for intra Asia trade,” the company said in explanatory notes to its financial results.
Year-on-year, the segment pre-tax profit climbed to RM170.9 million from RM68.4 million or up by RM102.5 million due to improvement in freight rate and better utilisation of shipping space from intra Asia trade and also one-off reversal of impairment of vessels of RM5.9 million.
The integrated logistic segment posted 53 per cent increase in revenue to RM258.3 million from about RM169 million year-on-year, driving after-tax profit to RM26.1 million from RM12.3 million.
Harbour-Link attributed the segment’s strong performance to the easing of the movement control (to combat COVID-19 pandemic) which has resulted in the increase of export-oriented cargo volumes from the local manufacturing and oil & gas sectors.
Year-on-year, the engineering segment registered a 16 per cent increase in revenue to RM41.5 million from RM35.7 million previously but its after-tax profit fell to RM1.64 million from RM3.04 million due to some projects are at the early stages of implementation.
The property segment reported weaker performance as its revenue declined by 16 per cent to RM6.97 million from RM8.34 million in FY2021 and its after-tax profit slumped to RM1.81 million from RM3.03 million.
Commenting on prospects for the new financial year, Harbour-Link said: “Recent ocean freight and shipping charges have weakened slightly due to lower cargo volume and increase of shipping space from other competitors in our intra-Asia shipping routes.
“Certain Chinese ports are still experiencing scattered COVID-19 lockdown which are affecting our shipping volumes too.
“Domestic shipping between East and West Malaysia are more stable with consistent cargo volume and favourable freight rates. We expect our shipping and marine division still able to perform satisfactorily in the next quarter.”
On the prospects for the group’s integrated logistics division, Harbour-Link said all domestic market activities have restored to normal from the pandemic.
“All manufacturing, oil and gas and construction sectors are increasing their production capacities which are benefitting our integrated logistics division with more cargoes and services to handle.
“At the same time, high demand from local industries on equipment rental and machineries sales also contributed significant revenue to integrated logistics division. We foresee this division will perform favourably in the next quarter.”
Harbour-Link said its engineering and construction division had done well in Q42022 and it has works in Bintulu, Kemanan, Johore and Port Dickson. At the same time, we are working hard to secure for more new projects in the coming months.”
“For financial year 2023, we expect to face challenges in shipping and marine industries due to the economic uncertainties globally. We shall exercise caution and keep abreast on the situation while monitoring cost control and operation efficiency.
“Furthermore, we will take proactive steps to improve on our ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) efforts in each of our business activities. This approach need building up sustainable investment strategies that may require more capital investment in the future,” added the company.
