Keppel Corporation has reported revenue of $6.84 billion for the 9MFY2022 ended Sept, 24% higher y-o-y. The revenue growth was attributable to higher revenue contributions from Keppel Infrastructure, Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), M1 and Keppel Capital.
In its business update, the group said that its net profit for the nine-month period improved y-o-y with stronger performance from its Energy & Environment and Asset Management segments.
Net profit for the 3QFY2022, however, fell y-o-y due to the high base in the 3QFY2021 from the absence of a gain from the enbloc sale of a project in China.
In its Asset Management segment, Keppel Capital saw stronger operating results with an 11% y-o-y growth in asset management fees to $186 million for the 9MFY2022. Keppel Capital says it is on track to achieve its $50 billion target in assets under management (AUM) by end-2022.
Keppel Infrastructure’s revenue under the Energy & Environment segment rose 51% y-o-y to $3.15 billion for the 9MFY2022. This was driven by higher electricity and gas sales as well as higher recognition from the Hong Kong Integrated Waste Management Facility. The higher sales and recognition led to a significant increase in the segment’s net profit for the 9MFY2022.
Meanwhile, Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) saw revenue grow by 56% y-o-y to $1.82 billion on the back of higher activity levels for the 9MFY2022. The segment was ebitda positive for the period. In the 9MFY2022, Keppel O&M also secured $7.9 billion in new orders, bringing its net orderbook to $11.6 billion as at Sept 30.
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Under the Urban Development segment, Keppel Land saw profit decline y-o-y with reduced contributions from its China trading projects and the absence of contributions from the enbloc sales in the corresponding period the year before.
In the Connectivity segment, the group completed the acquisitions of three data centres in 3Q 2022, bringing its portfolio to 32 data centres across Asia Pacific and Europe. M1’s revenue grew 9% y-o-y to $854 million for the 9MFY2022, due to higher service revenues and contributions from the region. It had also registered higher net profit y-o-y. Notably, revenue from the enterprise business grew 34% y-o-y to $265 million in the 9MFY2022.
As at Sept 30, the group’s net gearing increased to 0.79x from 0.68x in the quarter before due to the payment of the interim dividend and the repurchase of shares under its share buyback programme.
According to the group, it has hedged against the inflationary environment along with the rising interest rates with about 70% of its borrowings on fixed rates. As at Sept 30, the group has an average interest cost of 2.88% and weighted tenor of about three years.
“Keppel delivered resilient performance against a very volatile environment, and has made good progress towards our Vision 2030 goals. We are well ahead of our three-year asset monetisation target, having announced close to $4.4 billion to date, and are confident of exceeding the $5 billion mark before the end of 2023,” says Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel Corporation.
“We are also growing our business in line with our asset-light model, announcing about $2.4 billion of investments in 3QFY2022 jointly made by Keppel, alongside our private funds and business trust to seize opportunities in energy & environmental solutions,” he adds.
In a separate announcement, Keppel said that it has signed revised agreements in connection with the proposed combination of Keppel O&M and Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine). Read more about it here.
Loh continues: “The encouraging progress that we have achieved on the O&M transactions brings us closer to our goal of transitioning Keppel to become a global asset manager and operator with strong development and operating capabilities in energy & environment, urban development and connectivity solutions, all part of a continuous value chain to provide solutions for a sustainable world.”
Shares in Keppel closed 5 cents higher or 0.76% up at $6.65 on Oct 27.
