Boustead profits up to S$28.9M on water projects

Mainboard-listed and infrastructure-related engineering services and geo-spatial technology group Boustead Singapore Limited announced it gained S$28.9 million in profits for 9M FY2010.

For 3Q FY2010 and 9M FY2010, the Group achieved revenue of S$103.6 million and S$336.8 million respectively. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent were S$8.7 million in 3Q FY2010.

A 17.7 percent decrease to S$27.5 million in the revenue from the energy-related engineering division was registered in 3Q FY2010.

While the downstream oil & gas business performed according to expectations, its revenue continued to be impacted by a weakening Pound Sterling, as in previous quarters.

The solid waste energy recovery business meanwhile achieved significant progress in its restructuring exercise, which is nearing completion. The division also anticipates further developments in negotiations for small to medium-sized contracts.

For 3Q FY2010, the water & wastewater engineering division registered improvements on its progress with existing projects, registering a revenue of S$15.0 million, a rise of 120.6 percent.

Going forward, the division is aiming to break even by the end of FY2010.

Revenue at the real estate solutions division went down sharply by 29.5 percent to S$42.0 million in 3Q FY2010 when compared to the corresponding quarter last year, which included $16.0 million revenue from an associate.

In Libya, the new township business is still reeling from technical difficulties, with progress being made at a slower pace than planned. The division expects to confront continued challenges and will focus on its business development efforts to secure more design-and-build and design-build-and-lease contracts.

Despite being negatively impacted by the exchange rate for the Australian Dollar in 3Q FY2010, revenue from the geo-spatial technology division increased sharply by 26.6 percent to S$18.1 million, owing to demand from government agencies across Australia and South East Asia.

Mr Wong Fong Fui, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Boustead said, "We are greatly encouraged by some of the positive developments that have taken place within the last two months including the fact that all three of Boustead's engineering divisions have secured major contracts worth S$186 million."

Mr Wong added, "Boustead continues to actively search for opportunities to utilise our growing net cash position of S$173.8 million to enhance our growth through high-quality synergistic acquisitions and investments. In the meantime, our order book backlog of more than S$575 million will underpin future earnings based on our current businesses."