KUALA LUMPUR (March 24): Construction giant Gamuda Bhd has requested for a suspension in the trading of its shares tomorrow, pending a material announcement.

"The structured warrants relating to Gamuda will also be suspended at the same time," the group said in a filing.

The suspension request has drawn attention to the group's participation in Penang's Transportation Master Plan, as well as the previous government's plan to take over Gamuda’s intra-city highway concessions, which currently appear to have been shelved.

Gamuda was also in the news earlier this month, when it was announced that the group and its joint venture partner John Holland were among the three consortia shortlisted to undertake the tunnelling works for Sydney metro railway line’s Greater Western Sydney-Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport package.

UOB Kay Hian Research, in a note on March 9, said the contract is conservatively estimated to be around RM8 billion.

“This is the third project in Australia that Gamuda has been shortlisted for. The work would involve constructing 11 kilometres of twin metro railway tunnels, including station boxes' excavations. The contract should be awarded by end-21, with the first of four boring machines expected to be in the ground by mid-23,” the research house noted.

Gamuda has also been shortlisted for the railway line’s Central/Western Tunnelling package (contract value estimate: RM8.3 billion/RM6.8 billion), and the M6 highway project (contract value estimate: RM7.8 billion).

“We believe securing its first contract in Australia will be crucial for Gamuda to pave its way into Australia’s construction scene. The track record will help strengthen the company’s future prospects for tenders,” said UOB Kay Hian.

The research house understood that Gamuda’s 60%-owned SRS Consortium has complied with all conditions needed for the environment management plan approval, adding that Gamuda is expecting formal approval once the Movement Control Order is over.

Gamuda returned to the black for the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2020 with a net profit of RM109.28 million, from a net loss of RM17.34 million in the preceding quarter. Quarterly revenue was down 17.54% from RM926.52 million in 4QFY20.

On a year-on-year basis, the quarterly net profit was down 37% from RM173.61 million in 1QFY20, while revenue declined 30.28% from RM1.09 billion.

On Aug 27 2018, Gamuda had accepted the offer from Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd for RM2.55 billion cash to acquire its 40%-owned associate company Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (SPLASH).

The group said the board of directors of its 80%-owned Gamuda Water Sdn Bhd and SPLASH had accepted the offer.

SPLASH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Splash Holdings, in which Gamuda owns a 40% stake, while Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd owns 30%.

Shares of Gamuda closed five sen or 1.33% lower at RM3.70 today, giving the group a market value of RM9.3 billion. It saw some 949,800 shares transacted.