EVERSENDAI Corp Bhd said its revenue should grow more than 27 per cent to RM2 billion this year, although a local research house is not as optimistic.
Eversendai executive chairman and group managing director Tan Sri A.K. Nathan told NST Business the company was expected to post a 27.39 per cent revenue jump from RM1.57 billion last year.
“We have strong footing in the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. All these projects will contribute to the company’s growth.
“We should be able to keep the momentum going and this year’s financial performance should be better than last year. Our focus now is to make sure that we get better financial performance quarter-on-quarter.
“We have strong order book and this should translate to RM2 billion turnover by the end of the year. This is our target and we are hopeful of achieving it.”
The company’s order book currently stands at RM3.2 billion.
Eversendai’s RM1.57 billion revenue last year was down from RM1.79 billion in the preceding year due to earnings dip from the Middle East and its oil and gas (O&G) division.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Research has forecast a lower revenue of RM1.69 billion for Eversendai’s 2017 financial year.
The research firm, in a recent report, also downgraded its earnings forecast for Eversendai’s 2017 financial year by 33 per cent after factoring in lower margin assumptions from its Middle Eastern, Indian and O&G operations.
“We have taken a more conservative stance and assume order book replenishment target of RM1.8 billion from Eversendai’s (target of) RM2.5 billion this year. While we applaud Eversendai’s ability to secure jobs, we feel the company has been overly-
engrossed in securing jobs, neglecting the profitability of the group,” said Kenanga Research.
Year-to-date, Eversendai has secured RM801.4 million worth of contracts.
Kenanga Research also downgraded Eversendai’s call to “underperform” from “outperform” previously, with a lower target price of 42 sen.