Earnings boost from land sales leads to second award for PAT growth
By admin In News On August 17, 2026
Harbour-Link Group Bhd (KL:HARBOUR) has been on the list of Centurion winners every year since the inception of the awards in 2019.
This year is no different, with the shipping group successfully bagging the Highest Return on Equity (ROE) Over Three Years award for the transport and logistics sector. The Sarawak-based company achieved a weighted ROE of 14.6% over the review period, following an ROE print of 21.5% for the financial year ended June 30 2025 (FY2023), 11.13% for FY2024 and 13.8% for FY2025.
The high ROE is evidence of Harbour-Link’s earnings performance over the three-year review period.
Headquartered in Bintulu, Harbour-Link achieved a net profit of RM118 million in FY2025, up almost 37% from RM86.19 million in FY2024. In FY2023, the company chalked up a net profit of RM147.83 million.
Harbour-Link’s revenue exceeded RM1 billion in FY2023 and FY2025, coming in at RM1 billion and RM1.03 billion respectively.
It is worth noting that Harbour-Link’s steady earnings growth has also enabled it to be in a net cash position since FY2021. According to its annual report of 2025, the company’s net cash pile amounted to RM228.16 million as at end-June, 2025, after excluding its borrowings of RM77.08 million.
The large cash coffers allows the board to reward shareholders with regular dividends. Harbour-Link consistently declared six sen dividends per share between FY2023 and FY2025.
Its adjusted share price closed at RM1.31 on March 31, 2026, compared with RM1.294 on March 28, 2025, RM1.114 on March 31, 2024, and RM1.016 on March 31, 2023. This works out to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.07%.
Harbour-Link’s key revenue generator is its fleet of 10 container vessels with a total capacity of 8,432 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which provides container shipping services within the Malaysia and Intra-Asia market, including Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong and China.
Other than the liners, Harbour-Link has four sets of tugs and barges, largely utilised for the transportation of timber products, primarily sawn timber and round logs, within Asean, servicing countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
While it has secondary businesses such as property development and engineering and construction, the bulk of its earnings is derived from shipping and related businesses.
The group’s latest Centurion win marks its sixth ROE award, bringing its tally of trophies from the platform to nine. This includes two awards for Highest Growth in Profit After Tax Over Three Years, and the Centurion of The Year — the platform’s highest honour that it took home in 2024 as the best overall performer among Bursa Malaysia’s publicly traded companies with a market capitalisation under RM1 billion.
Perhaps at the heart of Harbour-Link’s achievements is its management. Managing director Datuk Francis Yong Piaw Soon, 73, and executive director Wong Siong She, 63, control a 53.4% equity interest via co-owned vehicles Enricharvest Sdn Bhd and United Joy Sdn Bhd. Yong has a direct 9.99% stake while Wong has a direct stake of 5.59%. Both are founders of Harbour-Link.
Yong in the company’s latest annual report highlights that Harbour-Link’s aim is to strengthen its multimodal networks — integrating sea, land and air transport, as well as to form strategic alliances with national logistics players to expand their reach and capabilities.
“Crucially, Harbour-Link must also invest in green and automated logistics solutions to meet growing environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations and secure a competitive advantage. In short, Harbour-Link needs to shift from conventional forwarding to technology-enabled, end-to-end logistics ecosystems integrated with the industrial supply chain,” says the pioneer in the shipping and freight forwarding industry in East Malaysia.
Commenting on the outlook of shipping and marine industry, Yong notes that while global trade growth is experiencing a slowdown, Sarawak’s key exports — liquefied natural gas (LNG), timber, palm oil and various other industrial bulk cargoes — are expected to remain steady.
“This volume is further sustained by the state’s ongoing energy projects and industrial zone expansions, which will continue to drive marine cargo volumes and port throughput,” he says.
To support the growth, Yong says, significant port and marine activity is underway, with the expansion of facilities in Bintulu, Samalaju, Miri and Kuching aimed at boosting cargo-handling efficiency and developing future transshipment capacity.
News Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/814317
