Puncak Niaga: No plans to quit oil & gas business

SHAH ALAM: Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd has no plans to quit the oil and gas business, despite running on skeletal staff and not having any jobs in hand.
"We're not in a hurry to close down our oil and gas company. Even though there is not many jobs, we're still confident because our exposure (in the oil and gas industry) is not so much," executive chairman Tan Sri Rozali Ismail told a press conference after the company's AGM here yesterday.
He is optimistic that the oil and gas sector will recover by the end of the year, in anticipation of a continued rebound in oil price.
"It is possible that oil price will go up to US$60 to US$70 a barrel, I think it will improve further by next year," he said.
Currently, the company's oil and gas business is only left with 15 employees after three rounds of a right-sizing exercise, which started in May last year.
"We've finished the contracts. At the moment we are not doing any jobs, but we're putting up a lot of tenders here and there to get into new business opportunities," Rozali said.
Puncak Niaga, which is in search of new businesses following the disposal of its water assets to the Selangor government for RM1.56 billion, is also looking to expand to areas that are environmental-related, such as waste water, renewable energy, gas and power.
"Besides that, we're open to mergers and acquisitions, we're doing a lot of evaluation, we'll announce soon the target companies that we're going to invest in," he said.
On Puncak Niaga's plan to acquire the businesses of construction and property firm TRIplc Bhd, Rozali said the deal is pending due diligence, which is expected to be completed in two months.
He added that Puncak Niaga is undecided whether the acquisition will lead to the take-up of a substantial stake in TRIplc, which depends on the details and structure of the deal.
Last month, Puncak Niaga entered into a heads of agreement (HOA) with TRIplc to facilitate discussions and negotiations for a potential acquisition. Worth noting is that Rozali and Central Plus (M) Sdn Bhd are substantial shareholders in both TRIplc and Puncak Niaga.
On the proposed venture into oil palm plantations, Rozali said the company is continuously on the lookout for opportunities, but nothing has been firmed up yet. "This takes a little bit time for us to evaluate potential estates to buy. We'll announce it soon," he explained.
For the water business, he said the company has secured jobs in Labuan for operation and maintenance, as well as a waste treatment project in Kuala Lumpur.
Puncak Niaga's net profit plunged 73.6% from RM248.38 million in 2014 to RM65.58 million in 2015, due to lower contribution from both the construction and oil and gas businesses.