Rohas Tecnic bidding for RM500m jobs

KUALA LUMPUR: Rohas Tecnic Bhd, which debuted on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd last Friday following a reverse takeover, is bidding for over RM500 million worth of projects this year mainly in power transmission, telecommunications towers and water treatment.
Its CEO Leong Wai Yuan said this includes the bid for a water treatment plant project in Vietnam worth US$50 million (RM222 million). He added that the group has also started to invest in mini hydro development and is in an exploratory stage for hydro projects in Sabah and Sarawak.
“It’s more important that we build our capability and a good cost base to enable ourselves to bid (for projects). Any results of those biddings and wins reflect how well are we in the market,” he told a press conference after the group’s listing ceremony here last Friday.
Its order book currently stands at RM180 million, which would last for a year-and-a-half.
Rohas Tecnic was listed after PN16 company Tecnic Group Bhd went through a reverse takeover by prominent businessman Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah’s Rohas-Euco Industries Bhd (REI). REI is involved in the design and fabrication of steel structures for transmission towers and power substations.
Rohas Tecnic closed lower at 89 sen with 6.3 million shares traded last Friday. Tecnic’s share price was traded at RM1.12 a day earlier.
The successful takeover will see the injection of power transmission, telecommunications as well as water and wastewater businesses into the new entity after Tecnic sold its plastic products and mould-making business.  
Leong said REI had steady performance in the last three years and its focus for the next few years is to expand its business regionally in the area of engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning as well as investing in some power assets.
“We will not forget our core business, which is the (power transmission) tower manufacturing business, which we hope is going to generate good returns for the group,” said Leong.
He said Rohas Tecnic will be raising RM26 million from the listing exercise and about RM10 million is going to be invested into building efficiency in its manufacturing capacity, buying new machines and investing in new technology to enable the group to have a lower cost base and to achieve higher efficiency.
“Growth is the theme for our business moving forward. We’ve a renewed management team, renewed capability within the business, new process in place in the company and now that we’re back in public, we’ll see how all these capabilities can be monetised and become a return to shareholders.”
Rohas Tecnic aims to have a 70:30 revenue contribution from domestic and international markets within the next three years, from a 90% domestic revenue contribution now.
Meanwhile, Wan Azmi, who evaded the media last Friday, said in his opening remarks that its succession plan had been enacted in the course of the period while REI was in private ownership. REI was formerly listed but was taken private nine years ago by Wan Azmi.  
Rohas Tecnic posted a 98.7% slump in net profit to RM2.49 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 against RM184.53 million a year ago, due to no business activities undertaken following the sale of its core business to SKP Resources Bhd for RM200 million in 2015.