Malaysia: cement division boosts YTL full-year profit

Malaysia-based YTL Corp posted a 20.8 per cent rise in full-year attributable profit to MYR1.539bn (US$485.7m) to the end of June 2014,  largely driven by a good performance by its cement division.

"The jump in net profit was contributed mainly by our cement business, which saw better performance in the concrete and quarry segments, as well as the net fair value gain on investment properties recorded by our real estate investment trusts (REITs), YTL Hospitality REIT in Malaysia and Starhill Global REIT in Singapore," its group managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh Sock Ping said in a statement.

"The group recorded a 40.4 per cent increase in profit for the period and a 20.8 per cent increase in net profit attributable to shareholders on the back of MYR19.2bn in total revenue for the 12 months ended 30 June 2014.

"Our cement, property development and investment and hotel divisions all registered good growth, whilst in our utilities division, the power generation, water and sewerage and mobile broadband segments all turned in strong performances, offsetting lower sales in our merchant multi-utilities division," he said.

Revenue for FY14 fell to MYR19.21bn from RM19.97bn a year ago.