KUALA LUMPUR: Piling and foundation specialist Econpile Holdings Bhd has begun works for its recently-awarded US$87.5 million (RM347.6 million) project in Cambodia.
Econpile said its core machineries consisting of piling rigs and crawler cranes had arrived at Sihanoukville port in the middle of January and were fully mobilized at the project site along with a strong senior project team in Phnom Penh.
Executive director and group chief executive officer Raymond Pang said the company had commissioned the team and machinery soon after the contract was awarded in December 2020.
Pang said the preparation works were now in full force on site, and the project would begin contributing revenue in the third quarter of the year ending June 30, 2021.
"At the same time, our local ongoing projects are also progressing well. Works have not been affected by the latest Movement Control Order (MCO) since the middle of January 2021, as construction activities could commence with standard operating procedures in place," he said.
Pang said the Cambodian job had made up a substantial portion of the company's RM500 million target job wins for financial year 2021.
"Over the longer term, we are open to expanding our foothold in Cambodia given that we have a portion of our machineries and resources on the ground.
"As Cambodia is beginning to plan for major infrastructure in line with increasing urbanization, the demand for piling and basement works will only increase in due time and we want to be prepared to capitalise on this opportunity when it arises," he said.
As at December 31 last year, Econpile boasted a robust orderbook of RM900 million, providing earnings visibility over the next three years.
This includes piling and substructure works for notable developments such as Phase 2 of Pavilion Damansara Heights, TNB mixed development in Bangsar and Terra mixed development in Putrajaya.
For the first half ended December 31, 2020 (1H21), the group recorded a net profit of RM7.4 million on revenue of RM196.9 million.
Econpile achieved RM17.5 million net profit on RM273.1 million revenue in the previous corresponding period.
The weaker performance year-on-year (yoy) was mainly attributed to lower billings as certain major property development projects are at tail end stage and also slower-than-expected site activities.
Of total 1H21 revenue, contributions from piling and foundation works for property development projects decreased 20.1 per cent to RM152.8 million from RM191.2 million a year ago.
Contributions from similar works for infrastructure and other segments declined 46.2 per cent to RM44.1 million from RM81.9 million previously.