Second Wind For Destini
This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 30, 2025 – July 6, 2025
DESTINI Bhd (KL:DESTINI), previously known as Satang Jaya Sdn Bhd from its inception in 1991, has undergone a significant transformation from being a niche aviation parts supplier to a diversified industrial group. Today, it operates across multiple sectors, including defence, oil and gas (O&G), marine, and mobility, serving both the government and commercial clients, locally and internationally.
Destini reappeared on investors’ radar screens recently, which is reflected in its share price that had more than doubled to 43.5 sen last Wednesday from an all-time low of 21 sen on Aug 23, 2024. This increased its market capitalisation more than twofold to RM238.8 million in less than 10 months.
The renewed investor interest comes on the back of the company’s financial turnaround in the nine months ended June 30 (9MFY2025) following nearly five years of consecutive losses, with the exception of 2021.
During the period in review, Destini recorded three consecutive quarters of profitability — posting a net profit of RM5.33 million in 1QFY2025, RM6.07 million in 2QFY2025 and RM8.35 million in 3QFY2025 — driven primarily by strong contributions from its mobility and aviation segments.
This marked a significant rebound from the group’s earlier performance, where it reported a net loss of RM136.76 million after a massive impairment exercise on revenue of RM160.85 million for the 18 months ended June 30, 2024. The extended reporting period followed a change in the group’s financial year end to June 30 from Dec 31.
Destini executive director Ismail Mustafa believes that the worst is over for the group after more than two years of extensive corporate restructuring. These efforts included a series of corporate exercises such as kitchen sinking, asset disposals, the closure of 46 subsidiaries, cost rationalisation, a RM133 million cash call and a share consolidation.
“If you look at our order book, we have very clear visibility of contract flow over the next three years, particularly from the rail and aviation segments in the defence industry,” Ismail tells The Edge in an interview.
He reveals that Destini’s current order book stands at RM785 million, with the majority coming from its mobility segment. The tender pipeline is valued at about RM1 billion.
A major turning point for Destini came in 2021 when the group formed a 70:30 joint venture (JV) with Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB), effectively entering the “rail-tec” space. In May 2022, the JV secured a RM531.39 million maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contract from the Ministry of Transport (MoT) for 35 train sets operated by KTMB over 4½ years. Later that year, it secured another MRO contract involving 10 electric train sets (ETS), also operated by KTMB.
To date, six train sets have been successfully serviced and returned to the ministry, says Ismail.
Last Thursday, Destini bagged another contract from MOT for RM71 million to carry out Level 3 MRO works for nine ETS train sets. This came a day after the group clinched its first MRT-related job to overhaul the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and brake calipers on 58 ETS running on MRT Line 1, which connects Sungai Buloh to Kajang. The subcontract, awarded to its indirect subsidiary Trovon Malaysia Sdn Bhd by SMH Rail Sdn Bhd, is for 20 months from June 2025 to January 2027. There are no details of the contract value. The group acquired Trovon, a loss-making rail component remediation firm based in Australia, for A$100 (RM285.12) last year.
“We are positioning ourselves as an engineering solutions company, riding our historical expertise in providing safety and survival equipment. Looking ahead, we are targeting more opportunities in the rail sector, especially with the government’s push to expand rail utilisation,” he adds.