Singapore Corporate News - 26 Oct 2007

Keppel posts 23% jump in Q3 profit

AS Keppel Corp released its third-quarter results yesterday, attention turned to how it manages its forex risks and the internal controls it has in place. This comes in the wake of news of unauthorised forex trading at SembCorp Marine.

For the third quarter ended Sept 30, Keppel, the world's largest builder of offshore oil rigs, continued on its growth trajectory, turning in a 23.1 per cent rise in net profit to $247.7 million or 15.7 cents per share. This compares with $201.3 million or 12.8 cents per share for the same period a year ago.

Earnings improved due to strong performance in all key business units: offshore & marine, property, infrastructure and investments. Q3 revenue jumped 31.6 per cent to $2.59 billion.
On a nine-month basis, net earnings surged 33.7 per cent to $757.7 million while revenue climbed 37.1 per cent to $7.07 billion.

Eu Yan Seng net profit up 26.6%

TRADITIONAL Chinese medicine (TCM) company Eu Yan Sang International said yesterday that its net profit for the three months to end-September rose 26.6 per cent to $3.2 million. Earnings per share for the group rose to 0.88 cents from 0.7 cents a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter rose 34 per cent to $53.9 million. The group said that all its core business activities and key markets registered strong revenue growth during the period, which was the first quarter of its current financial year. Its share price ended 0.5 cents or 0.8 per cent higher at 61 cents yesterday.

Its main TCM retail business enjoyed the strongest revenue growth among the group's business segments, expanding 43 per cent to $40 million. The group said that the improvement was due to higher sales at existing retail outlets and contributions from opening a net of six new outlets during the three months. At end-September the group had 131 stores, spread across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Taiwan.

Its TCM wholesale business grew 21 per cent overall to $8.2 million. The group said growth in the wholesale business actually ranged from 15 per cent to 94 per cent based on the respective countries' currencies, but the growth reported was moderated due to translation into Singapore dollars. Revenue from the group's clinic business grew 7 per cent to $5.6 million overall, despite losses of $600,000 from its three clinics in Australia.