SELANGOR, 21 FEBRUARY 2022 – Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Earthing and Lightning Protection (ELP) specialist PEKAT GROUP BERHAD (“Pekat” or the “Company”, Bursa: 0233, Bloomberg: PEKAT:MK) (“柏卡集团有限公司”) announced fourth quarter results for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 (“4QFY2021”).

Revenue for 4QFY2021 amounted to RM54.4 million, an increase of 35.6% versus the immediate preceding quarter (“3QFY2021”) as most states in Malaysia transitioned into Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan, thereby allowing public and private sectors to operate at full capacity.

In tandem with the growth in revenue, profitability improved significantly as Group PBT reached a record high of RM8.1 million, 338.0% above 3QFY2021. This was largely driven by higher gross margins of 30.4% (3QFY2021:22.2%) brought about by progress billings from projects with higher overall margins.

Notably, Pekat benefited from a recovery in construction activities and delivered a significant outperformance in 4QFY2021 despite the challenges and disruptions in key projects due to Covid-19 shutdowns during FY2021.

On a full year basis, the Group recorded a 40.4% growth in revenue to RM176.2 million. This comprised RM114.4 million from the solar photovoltaics (“PV”) segment, RM29.0 million from the earthing and lightning protection (“E&LP”) segment and RM32.8 million from the trading segment.

Taking into account the above, Pekat recorded a PBT of RM17.4 million for FY2021. This is despite having incurred listing expenses of RM1.9 million in relation to the Group’s listing on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on 23 June 2021.

As at 31 December 2021, the Group’s financial position remained robust, sporting a net operating cash position of RM4.25 million whilst shareholders’ funds amounted to an impressive RM119.1 million.

Going forward, Pekat is optimistic of the prospects in the coming financial year as construction and economic activities have resumed. Additionally, the outlook for solar PV in Malaysia remains positive as both the public and private sectors adopt various initiatives and strategies to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

Mr Chin Soo Mau (秦樹茂), Managing Director of Pekat said, “Operationally, FY2021 proved to be a challenging year as Covid-19 continued to hamper the construction progress for most of our key projects/divisions. This resulted in lower than projected revenue contributions across the board. Our profitability was also affected by a one-off listing expense of RM1.9 million. That being said, 4QFY2021 turned out to be our best ever as construction activities resumed and most states in Malaysia transitioned to Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan.”

“Under the circumstances, our 4QFY2021 performance is commendable and marks an end to a very challenging year. We are looking to build on this positive momentum and execute our orderbook as economic and construction activities progress at full capacity. We look forward to delivering sustainable earnings growth in the quarters ahead backed by our outstanding orderbook of RM175.4 million.”