ENGINEERING service and construction company Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd, whose order book is more than RM700mil, is pursuing projects worth between RM2bil and RM2.5bil, its executive director Datuk Steven Ang said.

He said the bulk of the projects would be on turnkey basis in the infrastructure construction business, with some specialist engineering services in mechanical and electrical (M&E) works. However, he declined to reveal details.

Ang pointed out that while Bintai did not expect to bag all the projects tendered, it was hopeful of a 30% success rate, which worked out to between RM600mil and RM750mil.

He said this to reporters yesterday after Bintai sealed a RM110mil syndicated bridging loan facility with a consortium of financial institutions led by Aseambankers Malaysia Bhd to construct eight blocks of City Hall low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur.

The construction of the 1,911 low-cost flats is to facilitate the relocation of existing City Hall flat tenants in Jalan Pekeliling to the Sri Rampai flats in Setapak Jaya to facilitate an urban renewal project around Jalan Pekeliling area.

Bintai is not involved in the urban renewal project although it was awarded a RM140mil turnkey contract to built the flats through its wholly-owned unit Kejuruteraan Bintai Kindenko Sdn Bhd.

In addition, Bintai was awarded a RM49mil project to initiate the second phase of the relocation of the Jalan Pekeliling low-cost flats tenants, expected to be completed in 2005.

Ang said that barring any unforeseen circumstances, and without any additional provisions, Bintai was forecasting a profit of about RM10mil in the current financial year ending March 31, 2004 as the company undertook more turnkey projects in the past year.

Apart from the construction of low-cost flats in Setapak Jaya, he said Bintai was also currently in a joint-venture with the KL City Hall to build four blocks of medium-cost residential apartments in Bandar Baru Sentul Perdana, totalling more than RM100mil in gross development value.

Meanwhile, Ang said that major shareholders were not behind the recent sharp decline in Bintai share prices.

Bintai, which was trading at about RM4 previously, saw its share price begin to plummet in late April.

The company’s shares fell to a low of RM1.81 on May 12 before stabilising at around the RM2 level.

Ang stressed that none of the major shareholders, including Kinden Corp of Japan (holding 20.6%), had disposed of any stakes in the company.

He believed that the recent share price decline had more to do with certain funds disposing of Bintai shares and had nothing to do with the fundamentals and management of the company.

''The company is doing fine. In fact, it is getting better this year,'' he said.

For the year to March 31, Bintai reported a pre-tax profit of RM660,000 on turnover of RM153.7mil, up from a pre-tax loss of RM10.6mil and turnover of RM84.4mil the previous year.

Source: THe Star