KUALA LUMPUR, 12 May – 2015 was a bullish year for Total Asset Solutions provider, UEM Edgenta Berhad (“UEM Edgenta”) as it recorded a stellar operational performance and healthy finances for the financial year ending 31 December 2015.

As compared to 2014, revenue was up by 1.1 percent to RM3.12 billion (versus RM3.08 billion) and gross profit improved by 4.1 percent to RM1.02 billion in 2015 versus RM981.3 million in 2014. This was mainly driven by higher contribution from Infra services and the Integrated Facilities Management businesses. As a result, gross profit margin increased by 0.9 percent or 31.8 percent to 32.7 percent in 2015.

Excluding one-off costs arising from Mutual Separation Scheme, goodwill impairment for Opus Stewart Weir (“OSW”) and reversal of deferred consideration rising from the acquisition of OSW by Opus International Consultants Ltd, Normalised Profit Before Tax in 2015 increased by 17.4 percent to RM350.8 million versus RM298.8 million in 2014. 2015 was a good year for UEM Edgenta’s Infra Services where the division recorded revenue of RM890.7 million, a 17 percent or RM128.5 million increase over 2014.

UEM Edgenta, which declared and paid an interim dividend of 15 sen per share with a payout ratio of 64 percent on 31 March 2016, has put in place several initiatives in the year 2015 to sustain its momentum for 2016.

According to Azmir Merican, Managing Director/Chief Executive of UEM Edgenta, this includes a joint venture with UEM Sunrise Berhad and Medini Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd to provide township management services which includes property management services and integrated facility management services to building owners and residents of Medini and Iskandar Puteri. The service which focuses on township development is the first of its kind in Malaysia and is the showcase model for future roll-out in the country as well as ASEAN Countries.

“Another joint venture formed in 2015 was with Resource Data Management Asia Sdn Bhd (RDM Asia) to offer energy management solutions where our customers will be able to optimise energy performance of their premises and lower their carbon footprints translating into reduced Asset Management Costs. To date, we have completed the installation of energy management system in 33 Ministry of Health (“MoH”) hospitals.

“We also expanded our presence into Indonesia and the Middle East whereby we secured a three-year contract to maintain the 116-kilometre Cikampek Palimanan toll road in Indonesia and commenced asset consultancy work on the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia. These two countries will continue to be our focus for 2016,” said Azmir.

For 2016, Azmir said that UEM Edgenta is on track to establish an Active Facilities Management and Internet of Things (“IoT”) capabilities for and within the South East Asia Market.

“We strive to use technology to maintain an edge in the industry, pioneering new way of thinking. We are introducing IoT capabilities in our business as we believe data analytics and big data applications will assist us to achieve better efficiencies for our customers. In realising this, we will establish a command centre for our Energy Management system for the 33 MoH hospitals. This center, which will be located at our headquarters in Menara UEM, is scheduled to be fully operational by third quarter (“Q3”) of 2016.”

Azmir went on to say that the Company will continue to invest in Research and Development (“R&D”) as it believes innovation is one of the key drivers of the Company’s success. An R&D Center located in Bukit Beruntung, Selangor is currently being set-up where will house among others a Pavement Research Centre, focusing of development of different pavement materials from recycled waste and milled pavements which promotes greater sustainability. UEM Edgenta also plan to set-up a premix plant to produce various pavement materials.

In addition, the year 2016 will see UEM Edgenta protecting and enhancing its core business offerings specifically Healthcare Services, Infra Services and Asset Consultancy as well as grow and effectively deliver its new business offerings made-up of Property Services, Environmental and Material Testing Services, and Energy Services.

The Company via its asset consultancy, infra services and environmental and material testing services is also well position to capture some of the RM150 billion worth of key infrastructure projects initiated by the Government for the next five years.

UEM Edgenta plans to continue with its integration and rationalisation efforts following its merger and improve its technology utilisation including the deployment of Active Facilities Management capabilities.