Singapore Corporate News - 27 Feb 2008

ST Engg net up 13%, sees slower growth this year

SINGAPORE Technologies Engineering expects to see growth slow this year, despite posting double-digit year-on-year growth in both top and bottomline for the year ended December 2007 and breaking the $5 billion mark in turnover for the first time.

The group expects to achieve 'modestly higher turnover and profit before tax' for FY2008 compared to FY2007, it said.

'We've used the word 'modestly' before. It indicates single digits, somewhere in the middle', said Tan Pheng Hock, group chief executive.

ST Engg achieved 13 per cent year-on-year growth in net profit to $503.5 million last year, as revenue also rose 13 per cent to $5.05 billion.

Group profit before tax (PBT) would have been $15 million higher if not for the weak US dollar, Mr Tan said. ST Engg earned 31.5 per cent of revenues from the US, 49.2 per cent from Asia, and the rest from Europe and elsewhere.

With the US slowdown, 'it's still very uncertain and too early to know what will happen, other than what is in our contracts. The next three months we can tell you, six months would be hard', said Mr Tan.

Orders as at end-2007 stood at $9.49 billion - 29 per cent up from a year ago - with about $3.49 billion expected to be delivered this year. This figure does not include the several hundred million dollars worth of contracts announced this quarter.

Earnings per share rose 12 per cent to 16.95 cents. The group has proposed a final dividend of 14.88 cents per share, which included an earlier interim dividend of two cents, meaning it has maintained its practice of fully paying out earnings.

Sector-wise, ST Aerospace saw PBT rise 12 per cent to $341.2 million, as revenues grew a tenth to $1.84 billion. The unit plans to grow its Total Aviation Support programme, as well as its customer base at new facilities in Shanghai and Panama.

It looks unlikely to restart its airframe maintenance work in Europe, which was divested in 2006 due to lack of volume. European national airlines, unlike US ones, do maintenance work in-house, said Tay Kok Kiang, president of ST Aero.

And in Eastern Europe, where ST Aero had previously thought of investing, low-cost carriers are widely dispersed with just a few planes each. Each country has its own airframe facility, it being an easier business to enter into than components or engines, where ST Aero will focus for now, he said.

ST Electronics saw revenues cross $1 billion with 8 per cent annual growth, with PBT growing 10 per cent to $115.3 million. Besides e-government and transport management services, the unit is also banking on its digital media venture into movies.

iDirect, the satellite communications arm, was 'slightly weaker' in 2007, as it was investing in new products, said Seah Moon Ming, president of ST Electronics. It will prove stronger in 2008, thanks partly to more government sales.

Government sales are a key new area across the group, added Mr Tan.

The land systems arm saw a 14 per cent rise in PBT to $80 million, as turnover rose 17 per cent to $1.19 million. It will focus on growing the specialty vehicles business, not only in its current markets of China and the US, but also in the Middle East, said Mr Tan.

ST Marine did better than expected due to 'outstanding shiprepair performance', with PBT growing 22 per cent to $96.6 million and revenue up 23 per cent to $865 million. However, it expects a poorer performance in 2008 that will pull down group earnings.

Former Bio-Treat chairman lodges complaint with CAD

BIO-TREAT Technology's former chairman Wing Hak Man has filed a report with Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), accusing the company of various securities and other legal breaches.

Sources have told The Business Times that Mr Wing has complained to the white-collar-crime police that Bio-Treat and its directors are guilty of disclosure breaches and of defrauding him of his stake in the company.

When contacted by BT, Bio-Treat's management said it is 'unaware of any report being made to the CAD against the company by Mr Wing'.

'Nor is the company aware of any basis on which Mr Wing might make such a report,' it added.

Mr Wing is believed to be accusing the company and its directors of making false and misleading statements to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on the divestment of his shares in the company.

The former chairman is said to have complained to the CAD that Bio-Treat gave the false impression that his shares were legitimately divested to various entities - when, in fact, he claims that his signature was forged on several share transfer scripts which effected the bulk of the sale of his 30-per-cent stake in the company.

He is also believed to have accused the company and its directors of having committed fraud on the Central Depository, as a result.

Sources said Mr Wing is asking the white-collar-crime police to investigate these alleged instances of fraudulent activity on the part of Bio-Treat and its directors, given that the share transfers took place under the CAD's jurisdiction - that is, in Singapore.

His report to the CAD also claims that the company and its directors forged Mr Wing's resignation letter, which effected his departure from the company in October 2006.

Mr Wing's complaint to the CAD follows a civil suit filed by him in October 2007 against Bio-Treat and three of its directors, in which he had made similar allegations that they had conspired to defraud him of his shares in the company.

Bio-Treat, through its lawyers Allen & Gledhill, managed to successfully stay the suit earlier this year, 'on the basis that it was not appropriate for the plaintiffs to have commenced the proceedings against the company in Singapore'.

Bio-Treat's operations are mostly in China.

The hearing of the applications by former independent director Jerry Yip and current independent director Kwok Chi-Shing to stay the legal proceedings filed by Mr Wing against them is still pending.

In his suit against the company and its directors, Mr Wing is suing for a potential loss of some $400 million, as well as interest, costs and damages to be assessed.

In that suit, he alleges that he was tricked by Mr Yip into signing documents later used to set up the Wing Family Trust - which heads a complex trust structure of nominee companies used to fraudulently transfer Mr Wing's shares away from him.

The suit also claims that Bio-Treat lodged false and misleading announcements with the SGX, which gave the impression that Mr Wing knowingly divested his stake in the company.

The company, at that time, said it noted the allegations made by Mr Wing in his claim but added that it 'does not believe there are any merits to the claims made against the company'.

Bio-Treat itself has commenced legal proceedings against Mr Wing - and ex-financial controller Zhao Min in Shanghai - for their alleged refusal to hand over company seals and documents.

Earlier this year, Bio-Treat said its subsidiary in China, Jinai Bio-Technology Engineering (Shanghai) Co, started legal proceedings against Mr Wing as he 'continued to refuse to hand over his responsibilities, including certain seals and documents' even after his appointment with Bio-Treat was terminated.

This tussle between Bio-Treat and Mr Wing - who was the company's founder - has dragged on for some one-and-a-half years, with the SGX saying it would monitor developments at the company 'in the interest of shareholders and the investing public'.

HTL Q4 earnings dive 90.1% to $1.39m

SOFA maker HTL International yesterday reported a 90.1 per cent slump in its fourth quarter net profits to $1.39 million.

For the three months to Dec 31, revenue fell 4.4 per cent to $180.1 million on lower external sales of leather, while the strong Singapore dollar affected turnover from overseas operations.

For the full year, net profit fell 81.2 per cent to $10.2 million. Revenue climbed slightly to $695 million, but cost of sales rose 4.4 per cent on the back of higher leather hide cost, as well as a reduction in China's export sales tax refund rate for leather hides and sofa upholstery.

Profits were also hit by a one-off provision of $8.9 million for restructuring costs in HTL's German operations. Soaring freight rates also put a dent in profitability.

Earnings per share on a fully diluted basis fell 80.8 per cent to 2.5 cents from 13 cents in 2006.

In its key markets, Europe, which contributes 58 per cent of revenue, saw double digit revenue growth. However, North American growth shrank due to poor business conditions.

HTL reported negative free cash flow of $11.3 million, against a positive $58.3 million in 2006, due to a large buildup of inventory and higher capital expenditures.

Group managing director Phua Yong Tat said: 'Despite our best efforts to mitigate the effects of various industry-wide factors in FY2007, our net profit is significantly lower compared to last year.

'We are reviewing our operational processes with a view to improve performance.'

He added that the company was looking into quarterly repricing of its products in order to pass higher costs to its customers. Restructuring should also reduce staff costs by about $1 million, said HTL's chief financial officer Siew Peng Yim.

However the company was unable to hedge efficiently against fluctuating costs of raw leather hides, which makes up more than half the cost of sofa upholstery, Mr Siew said.

HTL also expects to set up 60 shop-in-shop stores in Europe this year, Mr Phua said. He said that the company's fundamentals remained strong, but 'in the short term, we remain cautious about the group's performance and profitability'.

Shares of Synear, Advance SCT tumble on earnings woes

SHARES of frozen food producer Synear Food Holdings came under heavy selling pressure yesterday after analysts downgraded the stock following its weaker than expected fourth- quarter earnings.

Not spared too was copper supply chain provider Advance SCT after it issued a profit warning saying fiscal 2007 second-half performance may not improve as earlier projected.

Synear Food, which reported flat fourth-quarter sales and lower margins, has been the favourite among S-shares - a term referring to China-play stocks listed in Singapore - for its involvement in the upcoming Olympics in Beijing this August as the exclusive supplier of frozen food at the event.

But the stock became the subject of downgrade by some analysts yesterday after Synear posted a 50.3 per cent year on year plunge in net profit to 63.8 million yuan (S$12.5 million) as higher costs hit its bottomline despite revenue rising marginally by 1.3 per cent to 595.61 million yuan.

Synear on Monday also announced the retirement of its joint chief executive officer Li Jinzhou and the appointment of Li Wenjun, the group purchasing manager, as executive director.

At the close of trading yesterday, Synear slumped 27 cents or 26 per cent to 76 cents with 130 million shares changing hands and after hitting a 52-week low of 69.5 cents intraday. Even a dividend of about 0.073 yuan per share failed to cheer up investors.

Analysts pointed to the worrying trend of Synear's costs running ahead of expectations and at a faster pace than its revenue.

'The poor performance raises concerns about management's aggressive growth plans,' CIMB-GK said in a note yesterday.

'We have lowered our sales forecasts and chosen to be more conservative in our margin estimates. As a result, we have cut our FY08-FY09 EPS estimates by 17-19.6 per cent,' it added.

CIMB-GK downgraded its rating on Synear to 'trading sell' from 'outperform' and lowered its target price to $1.14 from $1.75.

Merrill Lynch also cut its rating on Synear to 'sell' from 'buy', saying it expects the group to face a challenging 2008 especially in the first half, given the weak execution of its expansion.

'With the high earnings base in first half 2007, Synear would likely face a decline in profits for the next two consecutive quarters,' Merrill Lynch's analyst Eddy Loh said in a note.

Nomura is keeping its 'fair value' call for Synear on a long-term view on the belief that 'the worst could be over for Synear' with pork costs likely to peak in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Advance SCT dived 19.5 cents or 30.5 per cent to 44.5 cents on hefty volume of 17.9 million shares, after touching a 52-week low of 43.5 cents intraday.

It issued a profit warning stating that audited fiscal 2007 profit for its Malaysian smelter TTM (Industries) Sdn Bhd (TTMI) would be significantly below its unaudited profit that was announced earlier.

Advance SCT had in January agreed to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of TTM (Industries) Sdn Bhd that it does not already own from the Tembusu Growth Fund for $11.05 million, based on the unaudited net profit of not less than $12 million for TTMI for the 10 months ended Dec 31. It is currently reviewing the transaction.

DBS Vickers analyst Sachin Mittal said in a note: 'Pending FY07 result announcement on Feb 28, this could raise investors' concerns about its business model, which although exiting, is unproven and entails execution risks.'

'We think it will take a couple of good set of results to restore investors' confidence in the stock,' he added, cutting his rating on Advance SCT to 'fully valued' from 'buy' and the target price to 64 cents from $1.40.

Valuation gains boost Koh Brothers' profit

PROPERTY and construction company Koh Brothers' 2007 net profit jumped almost 10-fold to $39.7 million, fuelled by exceptional items.

Net profit was boosted by valuation gains of more than $30 million and a $5.6 million gain from the disposal of subsidiaries. For 2006, Koh Brothers reported a net profit of $4.1 million.

Revenue for the year ended Dec 31, 2007 rose 10 per cent to $285.5 million - from $259.6 million the year before - as the company's construction and building materials division recorded strong numbers amid a construction boom in Singapore.

Earnings per share rose to 8.28 cents in 2007, from 0.85 cents in 2006. Koh Brothers has declared a first and final dividend of 0.3 cents a share for 2007.

The company plans to go ahead with three residential launches this year despite the property market taking a breather, chief executive Francis Koh told BT.

'In 2008 we will launch new projects such as Lincoln Lodge off Newton Road, the Alocassia Apartments along Bukit Timah Road and Florenza at Florence Road,' Mr Koh said. But the sale of units in luxury development The Lumos will be held off until the market recovers. 'At the moment the high-end and luxury markets are a bit slow but the mid-range segment is still quite good, so we will push out those projects first,' he explained.

In line with this, Koh Brothers will roll out Florenza in Florence Road, which it classifies as a mid-range property, in the second quarter of 2008.

Launches of the more upmarket Lincoln Lodge and Alocassia Apartments projects are slated for the fourth quarter, while sales of The Lumos - which is 40 per cent sold - are on hold.

Mr Koh said that if need be the company can afford not to launch any projects this year and instead wait for the market to recover, as it is in a financially strong position. Koh Brothers reduced its gearing from 4.3 to 2.1 in 2007, he said. The company also has locked in income streams for 2008. In 2007 it tied up the sale of Changi Hotel for $42 million. A gain of some $20.4 million will be seen in 2008 from the deal.

In addition, the progressive recognition of revenue from sales of units in The Lumos and the fully-sold Bungalows@Caldecott, as well as higher rental income from 50 per cent-owned mall Sun Plaza, will contribute to 2008's numbers, Mr Koh added.

The company also has construction contracts of $849 million up to 2011 in hand and intends to bid for more large-scale public-sector projects.

Hersing full-year net income doubles

HERSING Corporation, which owns the ERA real estate marketing franchise here, the StorHub self-storage business and a 51 per cent stake in the Singapore network of US remittance giant Western Union, yesterday reported a doubling of full-year net income and revenue to $38.8 million and $197.2 million respectively.

But the group said it does not expect the record real estate activity of 2007 to be repeated this year.

It also said profit attributable from its financial services business will be diluted as Western Union has a 49 per cent share of after-tax profit from the remittance network in Singapore from Jan 1, 2008.

ERA brokered about 30,000 property deals in Singapore last year, more than double the number in 2006, said Hersing Corporation president Jack Chua.

Private property deals accounted for more than 70 per cent of Hersing's $169.5 million real estate brokerage and related services turnover.

ERA had about a 40 per cent market share of total HDB resale and private residential property sales in Singapore last year, Mr Chua said.

Shareholders will receive a three cents per share special interim dividend payable on March 25 and a one cent per share final dividend payable on May 11.

Hersing's $38.8 million net earnings for the year ended Dec 31, 2007 equates to roughly a quarter of the group's $151.1 million market cap based on its closing price of 51.5 cents yesterday.

Hersing owns the master franchise for the ERA brand in the Asia-Pacific and operates the ERA business directly in Singapore and China. Mr Chua said the group is now pursuing the appointment of an ERA franchisee for China.

If that happens, the franchisee will pay Hersing a one-time lump sum and a monthly royalty fee.

Hersing will also start operating two new StorHub facilities in Singapore this year.

Rotary Q4 profit surges 54% to $12.4m

ROTARY Engineering yesterday posted a net profit of $12.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2007, up 54 per cent from the previous corresponding period's $8 million.

Fuelled by a strong economy and a vibrant oil-and-gas sector, net profit for the 2007 full year reached a record high of $52.8 million, up 50 per cent from 2006's $35.2 million. Full year earnings per share rose to 9.3 cents from 2006's 8.7 cents.

The company is proposing a final dividend of 2.3 cents per share. Including the interim dividend of 2.3 cents per share that it paid out on Sept 3, 2007, this works out to a dividend yield of 4.6 per cent based on Feb 25's closing share price of $1.00.

Year-on-year, fourth- quarter turnover last year dropped 16 per cent to $98.9 million from $117.3 million, due to recognition of revenue as a result of completion of several major projects in the last quarter of 2006. However, full-year turnover hit a new high of $510.2 million, an increase of 17 per cent over the $437.4 million it chalked up the previous year. The increase in turnover is largely accounted by contributions from several ongoing projects on Jurong Island.

The group also saw its overseas activities contribute about 18 per cent, or $93.9 million, to its revenue. Previously, overseas contributions amounted to 14 per cent of revenue.

Thailand was the biggest contributor with $73.2 million, due to the execution of projects secured in the current year as well as those in 2006. Rotary said the group's persistence in forging a presence in oil-rich Middle East paid off with a modest contribution to revenue of $4.5 million in FY2007.

Chia Kim Piow, Rotary's chairman and managing director, continues to be upbeat about the outlook for the oil-and-gas industry. He said: 'There are projects coming up on Jurong Island such as ExxonMobil's second world-scale petrochemical project and Neste Oil's largest next-generation biodiesel manufacturing plant. The oil industry continues to be important to the Singapore economy. These are factors that are favourable for our business and I am confident that there will be ample business opportunities.'

Inter-Roller in the red with losses of $4.2m in Q4

INTER-ROLLER Engineering was in the red for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2007, with net losses of $4.2 million, against a net profit of $4.48 million for the previous corresponding quarter.
The group attributed this mainly to a foreign-exchange loss of about $3 million stemming from revaluation loss on the unbilled revenue portion of contract work-in-progress and trade receivables which were denominated in US dollar and AED (United Arab Emirates dirham). These currencies had weakened against the Singapore dollar during the year.

Other factors cited were the 11.5 per cent drop in fourth-quarter revenue to $22.7 million, rising material and transportation costs and higher overhead incurred by the formation of the Suzhou factory.

The year's total revenue decreased by 13.7 per cent to $127.4 million compared with $147.6 million in the previous year. Inter-Roller said that the reason for the decline was that most of their existing major projects were near completion and that the new projects were still in the early phase of design.

Net profit for the year dropped 32.5 per cent to $17.4 million from $25.7 million. Earnings per share for 2007 were 5.22 cents, down from 2006's 7.81.

However, Inter-Roller CEO Oon Chong Howe remained bullish about the group's market potential.

The group secured $163 million of new orders for 2007 compared with $56 million for the whole of 2006.

Just last month, Inter-Roller won a $17 million catering-system contract for the New Doha International Airport, after having bagged the project for baggage handling.

A new $17 million, 20,000 sqm headquarters is also slated for construction in Boon Lay.

CFO Steven Lwi said that it would house new R&D facilities, saying it is vital for continuous improvement in products and software solution to edge out fellow competitors in the industry.

Inter-Roller proposed a final dividend of half a cent per share for the fourth quarter.

Courage Marine's 2007 profits double

THE China commodities boom has helped more than double dry bulk shipper Courage Marine's 2007 net profits to US$60.4 million from 2006's US$27.8 million.

Fourth-quarter profit also surged 137 per cent to US$20.2 million from the previous corresponding period's US$8.5 million as the benchmark Baltic Dry Index hit a record high of over 11,000 points in November.

The index was underpinned by a strong demand for coal, iron ore and grains from Asia, especially China and India, Courage said. The group was able to capitalise on this by positioning most of its fleet on the spot market which enabled it to ride the upturn well, pushing 2007's turnover up 59 per cent to US$90.4 million.

Fourth-quarter turnover shot up an even more dramatic 88 per cent to US$31.2 million from US$16.7 million.

This reflected an average index level of 9,300 during the quarter, more than double the 4,200 level seen in the previous corresponding quarter.

'Because we did not lock our ships to time charters, we were also able to capitalise on transporting basic building materials like sand at short notice and at good margins,' explained non-executive chairman Hsu Chih-Chien.

In addition, good cost controls helped the group keep profit margins high at 66 per cent last year. This was a 15 percentage point rise over the 51 per cent margin achieved the previous year.

Utilisation also remained good at over 90 per cent despite the company having to drydock six ships during the year.

The group also seized opportunities brought about by the strong market last year.

Courage Marine sold two 29-year-old bulk carriers and netted a gain of US$5.9 million from it. The group currently owns and operates eight ships with a tonnage of 380,000 deadweight tonnes.

Mr Hsu remains optimistic that freight rates will stay high this year.

'A lot of demand is still coming out of Asia, especially China and India, which has had to rely increasingly on countries further away like Brazil, Australia and South Africa to feed its infrastructure and energy raw material need,' he said.

'This structural change in trade has lengthened average voyage days and hence tonne-mile demand and, on top of this, several of the ports in these countries are unable to cope with the surge in volume, leading to port congestion and reduced available supply tonnage.'

Courage Marine expects to send two vessels for drydocking in the first quarter, which will put them out of action for about 50 days, and will send another two vessels for drydocking during the year.

The group continues to seek attractively priced second-hand vessels to expand its fleet according to market conditions, Courage said.

Assuming the index stays at its current level around 7,000 points and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group expects to continue doing well this year.

It has proposed a final dividend of 2.455 US cents per share.

Courage Marine shares closed one cent lower at 35 cents yesterday.

Design Studio profit soars 57.2%

STRONG demand and buoyant market conditions enabled Design Studio Furniture Manufacturer Ltd to lift its full year FY07 earnings by 57.2 per cent to $8.8 million.

This came on the back of a 28.1 per cent jump in topline revenue to $76.4 million. The hotels and high-end apartment fit-out specialist said it enjoyed strong contributions from domestic and overseas projects during the financial year ended Dec 31.

The results translated into higher earnings per share of 4.03 cents versus 2.65 cents last year. It showed a four-fold jump in cash to some $24.3 million at the year-end, mainly from proceeds of its share placement and convertible notes. Cashflow from operations was healthy at $7.5 million due to higher operating profit and efficient working capital management.

'We are pleased with the good performance for 2007,' said its executive chairman and CEO Bernard Lim.

'Going forward, the group will continue to capitalise on the ongoing construction and building boom. With many landmark projects secured, we foresee more opportunities coming up not only in Singapore but also in other parts of Asia, the Middle East, the United States and Eastern Europe. We will continue to drive our marketing efforts forward and source for viable strategic partners.'

The company's order book ballooned to $152.4 million as at the end of FY2007, from $90 million as at the end of FY2006.

Mr Lim expects this to grow significantly higher this year as the construction sector in Singapore remains robust with various projects such as the integrated resorts and luxury hotels coming up over the next few years.

Meanwhile, the company continues to build its already significant presence in the overseas markets including the Middle East and the US.

Set up as a seller of sofa sets in 1992, the company has, over the past three years, established itself as a global fit-out specialist for both the residential and hospitality sector.

Its local projects include several of high-end developer SC Global's projects, and hotels like St Regis and the Capella Sentosa and Scotts Square, while overseas, it has established a strong footprint in the US and the Middle East where it handled fit-outs for the 1,281 unit Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas and Burj Dubai's 899 serviced apartments in Dubai.

AsiaPharm goes from profit to 11.6myuan loss in fourth quarter

HIT by the cost of its past acquisition, AsiaPharm Group has reported a fourth quarter loss of 11.6 million yuan (S$2.3 million), from a net profit of 20.4 million in the final quarter of 2006.

This was despite an 86.7 per cent jump in revenue to 143.9 million yuan for the three months ended December. AsiaPharm said that its slip into the red in Q4 was largely due to fair value adjustments arising from the purchase price allocation relating to its acquisition of cancer drug company Solid Success Holdings.

The adjustments increased the group's amortisation of intangible assets by some 16.2 million yuan, as well increasing the cost of goods sold by some 6.9 million yuan. The exercise dragged its full-year earnings down 28.9 per cent to 59.5 million yuan.

Full-year revenues rose 65.1 per cent to 509 million yuan, driven by higher sales of its pharmaceutical drugs as well as contribution from its cancer therapy drug CMNa and products of newly acquired companies.

However, sales of its research and development (R&D) results fell 91.2 per cent to 1.3 million yuan, in line with a deliberate strategy to focus resources on the development of its own drugs. Export sales of active ingredients, which generate lower margins and incur higher credit risks, also fell 86.8 per cent to 2.1 million yuan.

Selling and distribution costs for the full year went up 90.5 per cent to 246.8 million yuan, while administrative expenses rose to 76.8 million yuan, from 32.4 million yuan.

Based on the weighted average number of shares in issue, basic earnings per share for the group dipped to 12.09 fen, from 18.21 fen. Net asset value came to 157.46 fen, from 149.16 fen.

The group is offering a dividend of 0.4 US cents per share.

AsiaPharm is currently the subject of a $357 million buyout offer by LuYe Pharmaceutical Investment Co. Backed by private equity firm MBK Partners, LuYe is offering 72.5 cents a share to take the group private.

Shares of AsiaPharm closed up half a cent higher at 70.5 cents yesterday.

CWT's net profit up 31% to $37.14m

CWT Ltd has reported a 31 per cent rise in net profit to $37.14 million for the year ended Dec 31, due mainly to its new related businesses of commodity logistics, container logistics and bonded logistics.

Commodity logistics was added to the group in the last quarter of 2006 while container and bonded logistics were added last February. Revenue grew 64 per cent to $534.91 million, helped by the higher margin nature of the new commodity and container logistics businesses.

Basic earnings per ordinary share rose to 6.65 cents, a rise of 12.7 per cent from 5.90 cents the previous year.

An unchanged final dividend of two cents per share was announced for the year ended Dec 31. Special dividend 1 and 2 for the year ended Dec 31, 2006 stood at 3 and 14.02 cents respectively, for a total dividend of 19.02 cents per share.

Trade and other receivables increased as a result of increased sales in 2007, businesses acquired in the year, and some payments received late and booked into January 2008 accounts.

The group attributed the good set of showings to Singapore's increasing importance as a logistics hub, which proved a boon to the group's business areas of chemical, commodity, bonded, container and warehousing logistics. CWT Logistics Hub 2 had been completed and the Temporary Occupation Permit was obtained in January.

Commodity Hub phase 1 is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of the year. Phase 2 will begin early next month. After this Commodity Hub project is completed, the warehouse of 2.34 million sq ft will be the single largest in South-east Asia, said the group.

OCBC to issue up to RM2.5b in bonds

OVERSEA-CHINESE Banking Corp (OCBC) plans to issue up to RM2.5 billion (S$1.09 billion) worth of subordinated bonds to augment its capital base. The lower tier II bonds would have a 10-year maturity, but will be callable after five years. OCBC intends to sell RM1.5 billion in bonds, with the option of selling an additional RM1 billion.

Noble Group Q4 profit rises 92%

NOBLE Group said its fourth-quarter profit rose 92 per cent. Net income climbed to US$97.9 million - or 3.82 US cents a share - in the quarter, from US$51 million - or 2.11 US cents - a year earlier. Sales rose to US$7.8 billion from US$3.9 billion.

C20 expects losses for year ending Feb 2008

C20 Holdings yesterday warned that it expects to post losses for the financial year ending Feb 29, 2008, due to losses from foreign currency exchange transactions and from overseas operations.

Advance Modules to post loss for FY2007

ADVANCE Modules Group is expecting to record a loss for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2007. It cited reduction in gross profit margin amid intense competition, limited working capital and impairment of fixed assets.