WCT hopeful of clinching RM1b contracts
KLANG, May 16 – WCT Bhd, a civil engineering and construction company, hopes to secure contracts worth RM1 billion, out of RM5 billion worth of contracts the group is bidding for internationally and locally, says independent non-executive chairman Datuk Ahmad Sufian.
The company is mostly bidding for infrastructure projects and 40 per cent of the tenders are for overseas jobs and 60 per cent local, he told reporters after the WCT Bhd’s annual general meeting and extraordinary general meeting.
The group has already secured jobs worth RM630 million in the first quarter of the year including the construction of the International Trade and Industry Ministry headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and a medical centre in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
He said the outlook for the local construction industry was good but challenging and the group always trying to strike a balance between domestic and overseas contracts.
During the year, Sufian said the ratio of overseas job to local projects were 70:30 but more jobs were being secured domestically now.
He said the company had property development projects which have yet to be fully developed like Bandar Parklands in Klang and 1Medini in Iskandar Johor.
The group was also embarking on its next phase of growth by expanding its consumer driven divisions in property development, hotel and commercial properties, he said.
WCT would next week embark on a soft launch of its latest shopping mall, the Paradigm Mall in Kelana Jaya, to be managed by the group itself for steady income stream, he said.
The group also aimed to build another four-star hotel in Kelana Jaya under its 'Premiere' brand and was currently operating a similar hotel in Bandar Bukit Tinggi, he said.
Its corporate affairs manager Kenny Wong said the group expected Paradigm Mall to contribute between RM10 million and RM15 million to the group’s net profit, annually, while the Premiere Hotel in Klang was already contributing between RM2.5 million and RM3 million each year to its net profits.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2011, group revenue stood at RM1.54 billion, from RM1.71 billion, previously while pre-tax profit dipped to RM257.4 million against RM300.1 million recorded in 2010. – Bernama
