KUALA LUMPUR: Bina Darulaman Bhd (BDB) aims to diversify into three new businesses – agriculture, renewable energy and telecommunications – in 2023 to achieve sustainable revenue, according to its acting president and group CEO, Mohd Iskandar Dzulkarnain Ramli (pix).
“Agriculture, renewable energy and telecommunications will become new pillars for us to explore further because we want to enhance our core businesses in 2023 onwards,” he told reporters during its press conference on BDB’s second-quarter 2022 (Q2’22) financial performance and business overview today.
Iskandar Dzulkarnain opined that the group will want to have all three streams to be part of its core business, but it is still in the initial research and analysis stage. As the country transitions into the endemic or post Covid-19 phase, it is being cautious but will consider to do so if the response is encouraging and positive.
“In a nutshell, in terms of profitability, we believe the property (division) will contribute compared with construction because of two critical issues, when there is a problem in supply or material (and) when there are limitations in workers as well it affects your profitability and margin,” he said.
Iskandar Dzulkarnain remarked that the pandemic has taught its team to be more alert to changes in the economy and market environment, and it will respond by adjusting or changing its plans accordingly.
“There will be challenges after the pandemic, but we are ready to face all these with the plan we have right now to ensure the financial performance can be finalised as per planned for the remaining year,” he shared, adding that normally, the group’s business will pick up in Q3 and Q4 and believes the trend will continue for this year.
The group is the Kedah state government’s investment holding company with core businesses of engineering, construction and quarry and property development while maintaining its investment interest in the state’s tourism sector.
Currently, its construction order book is at RM519 million. For the property division, BDB has a gross development value of RM1 billion and a total land bank of about 2,000 acres in Kedah.
