KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Protasco Bhd has made full provision for its oil and gas investment in PT Anglo Slavic Indonesia (PT ASI) in its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2014.
With this provision, Protasco posted a net loss of RM61.2 million after seeing an operating profit of RM34.1 million for the quarter, it said in a statement.
For the nine-month period, it has shown a net loss of RM24.3 million compared with a net profit of RM48.8 million previously.
“We are being pro-active in managing the impact of the PT ASI matter on Protasco, and are making a full provision of RM84.6 million,” said Executive Vice Chairman and Group Managing Director, Datuk Sri Chong Ket Pen.
“With the matter now in court, any future impact on Protasco will be isolated and will not affect performance and ongoing operations,” he said.
Chong said Protasco has continuously been profitable since listing and its dividend payout had averaged between seven sen and 10 sen yearly.
"The company has delivered steady profits for the last 11 years and has strong cashflow and good reserves. This matter is only a temporary setback,” added Chong.
With its strong cashflow and continuing operational growth, Protasco has declared a five sen interim dividend, maintaining its dividend payout policy.
Protasco saw its group revenue for the third quarter improve by 27 per cent to RM319 million from RM251 million previously.
Group revenue for the nine months grew by 15 per cent to RM667.7 million from RM581.7 million before.
The construction division’s pre-tax profit for the nine-month period rose more than seven times to RM21 million from RM2.5 million while revenue more than doubled to RM74 million from RM31.2 million before.
“On-going projects secured in mid-2013 and an orderbook of over RM700 million contributed to the strong growth in the construction segment,” said Chong. — Bernama
