BRC Asia has reported earnings of $93.5 million for the FY2024 ended Sept 30, up 23% y-o-y from the same period last year.
Earnings per share stood at 34.10 cents for FY2024, up from 27.61 cents in FY2023.
Meanwhile, the group’s revenue saw a 9% y-o-y decrease to $1.5 billion, due to weakening steel prices, which impacted the group’s top line growth. That said, the group says offtake “remained steady”, which supported profitability for FY2024.
Gross profit for the period was up 11% y-o-y to $153.8 million, while gross profit margins rose by 1.8 percentage points (ppt) to 10.4%. This comes on the back of the group’s higher-margin steel fabrication segment, which was partially offset by a reduction in the lower-margin international steel trading business.
Other income saw a 56% y-o-y increase to $22.5 million in FY2024, while operating expenses rose by 16% y-o-y to $63.9 million for the same period.
The group says due to its “strong project pipeline and substantial and visible public sector construction demand in Singapore”, BRC Asia BEC has declared a final dividend of 8 cents per share and a special dividend of 6 cents per share. The group’s total dividend stands at 20 cents per share, representing a dividend payout ratio and yield of 59% and 8.4% respectively.
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As at Sept 30, the group’s cash and cash and cash equivalents of $191.4 million, while BRC Asia’s sales order book stood at approximately $1.4 billion, with projects ranging up to five years.
Seah Kiin Peng, group CEO, says: "We are greatly encouraged by the strong performance achieved in FY2024, despite industry headwinds, including slower than expected domestic project offtake and weak international steel demand, which continues to impact our top line growth. Nevertheless, domestic demand over the past one year remained strong, with a steady stream of projects being launched for tender, particularly by the public sector. This bodes well for us as the leading reinforcing steel fabricator in the local market and has contributed positively to our margin expansion.”
Shares in BRC Asia closed 2 cents higher, or up 0.84%, at $2.39 on Nov 21.
