Boustead

[Musicwhiz]

Business Times - 13 Jan 2009

Boustead wins five contracts worth $64m

By JESSICA YEO

THE new year is looking good for Boustead Singapore, as the economic gloom has played a part in the company clinching $64 million worth of contracts.

'These contracts represent a good start to 2009 and will replenish our order book,' Wong Fong Fui, chairman and group chief executive officer, said.

Boustead secured five contracts in the oil & gas and power industries as costs of projects were going down in tandem with falling material prices, said corporate marketing manager Keith Chu.

The contracts had been under negotiation over a 12-month period, said Mr Chu, with both oil and material prices being high then.

As oil & gas industries are investments for the long term, the lowered cost of projects made them lucrative, he added.

The latest contracts clinched are all overseas, involving the 'design, process engineering and construction of key process equipment' for oil & gas and power plants in Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to Mr Chu, the largest contract won is in Indonesia.

These new contracts secured by Boustead's energy-related engineering division are not expected to have a positive material impact on the profitability for the next financial year ending March 31, 2010.

Boustead's order book currently includes a $174 million water infrastructure project in Libya, its second project there.

The company also has major contracts in Singapore, such as designing and building a $37 million aircraft engine maintenance and overhauling project, a $67 million semi-conductor project and a $60 million Singapore Free Port project.

Boustead, which has been reaping in six consecutive years of earnings growth, is likely to have another 'record-breaking' earning growth in FY 2009, Mr Chu said.

[Musicwhiz]

DJ MARKET TALK: Boustead Singapore +2.9%; Lands S$64M Contracts

0740 GMT [Dow Jones] Boustead Singapore (F9D.SG) +2.9% at S$0.70 as infrastructure engineering firm bags 5 contracts worth combined S$64 million. Company will build process equipment for refineries, plants in Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UK, U.S. "In spite of the weak economic climate, Boustead's enquiry pipeline has been holding up rather well except for industrial real estate solutions," says DBS Vickers. Expects Boustead to bag 1 or 2 more contracts by end-FY09 if oil prices rebound; forecasts S$450 million worth of new orders vs S$366 million currently (including latest deal). Still, stock remains thinly traded with volume of under 140,000 shares, comparable to 50-day average of 147,000, suggesting recent range-trade pattern (in place since November) likely to persist. Orderbook quotes hint resistance at S$0.73. (FKH)

[memphisb]

GRANT OF OPTIONS PURSUANT TO THE BOUSTEAD SHARE
OPTION SCHEME 2001
Singapore, 12 May 2009
The Board of Directors of Boustead Singapore Limited (the “Company”) wishes to
announce that on 12 May 2009, the Company has made an offer on grant of options
pursuant to the Boustead Share Option Scheme 2001. Details of the grant of options
are as follows:
(a) Date of Grant : 12 May 2009
(b) Exercise price of options granted : S$0.60 per share
The exercise price is equal to the average of the last dealt prices for the shares
on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited over the three (3)
consecutive trading days immediately preceding the date of grant of the options.
(c) Number of options granted : 1,400,000
(d) Market price (last done price) of shares
on date of grant
: S$0.595
(e) Number of options granted to directors
and controlling shareholders (and their
associates)
: 360,000 (Executive Directors)
(f) Validity period of the options : 10 years
By Order of the Board
Alvin Kok
Company Secretary

[helios]

yo guys,

i want to ask what is the building that lies directly opposite to OSIM building in Ubi?

i saw a Boustead banner when i was at the expressway overlooking this building ...

[Musicwhiz]

yo guys,

i want to ask what is the building that lies directly opposite to OSIM building in Ubi?

i saw a Boustead banner when i was at the expressway overlooking this building ...

It's Boustead's new HQ, Starhub Green and its adjacent to OSIM, not opposite.

[helios]

thank you.

yeah, whizzy, adjacent building ...

mmm ... new HQ ya?

[Musicwhiz]

thank you.

yeah, whizzy, adjacent building ...

mmm ... new HQ ya?

Yes.

[millionairemind]

Published May 29, 2009

Boustead Q4 net up 91% to $34.7m

The Q4 results boosted full-year net earnings to a record $60.1m

By VEN SREENIVASAN

ENGINEERING group Boustead posted its seventh successive year of record revenue and profit, unveiled a strong order book and matched its previous year's dividend payout.

The results for the full year ended March 31, 2009, were helped by a strong fourth quarter, thanks to higher revenue, contributions from an associate and lower income tax expenses.

The mainboard-listed company, which turns 181 years old this year, posted Q4 net profit of $34.7 million, which was 90.6 per cent up from the previous year.

Q4 saw $24.5 million in contributions from associates, mainly from a 40 per cent-owned associate which completed a $200 million sale of a development property.

Income tax expenses for the three months also dropped 66 per cent to $2.64 million because of overprovision in prior years.

While revenue jumped 52.9 per cent in Q4 to $191.4 million, gross profit rose just 8.4 per cent to $47.5 million.

The Q4 results boosted full-year net earnings to a record $60.1 million, a 16.8 per cent rise from FY2008's $51.5 million.

Full-year revenue jumped 17.9 per cent to $516.6 million. But gross profit rose by a lower 5.4 per cent to $143 million. The company cited competitive pressure and a provision of $8.7 million for foreseeable losses under cost of sales.

All its major divisions, with the exception of its water and wastewater unit Salcon, posted growth.

Boustead ended the financial year with an order book in excess of $580 million and a net cash cache of some $151 million.

The company also announced a final cash dividend of 2.5 cents per share. 'Including the interim dividend of 1.5 cents, the total dividend for FY2009 matches the dividend paid for FY2008 (excluding special dividend), after adjusting for the one-for-one share split in August 2008,' said Boustead.

The company's real estate solutions division, which undertakes specialised and custom-designed industrial, commercial and residential developments, remained its star performer, raking in revenue of $265.5 million, an increase of 37.4 per cent.

Its topline was significantly boosted by the sale of several newly built industrial buildings. However, Boustead said the economic crunch would make it difficult to repeat such design-build-sale deals, but this reduction could be balanced by the award of more design-build-lease contracts.

The unit had the lion's share of the group order book, at $315 million.

Chairman and chief executive Wong Fong Fui said the recession necessitated modifications to the company's business model.

'We may not sell any industrial leasehold facility like we did in the past five years,' he said. 'But the pipeline of enquiries for design, build and lease projects remains strong and could significantly boost the group's recurring income over the medium to long term.'

Meanwhile, the company's energy-related engineering unit saw revenue rising 7 per cent to $147 million, thanks to more oil and gas sector activity. The revenue would have been significantly higher if not for the weakening of the British pound against the Singapore dollar.

As at March 31, 2009, this division had an order book of some $90 million.

Boustead's geo-spatial technology division enjoyed a 9.4 per cent revenue growth to $74.2 million, thanks to increased demand for location intelligence solutions and infrastructure management systems from government agencies in Singapore and Australia. Again revenue would have been better if not for a weakening of the Australian dollar, which accounts for 80 per cent of the revenue.

The only weak link was Salcon. The water and wastewater management unit saw revenue fall by 25 per cent to $27 million due to slow recognition of some projects and writedowns on some of its 'legacy issues'.

But going forward, Boustead is cautiously confident that Salcon will turn profitable by the end of the current financial year. It had an order book of $175 million coming into FY2010.

Boustead is currently on the prowl for acquisitive earnings, Mr Wong said.

'We have been searching but have not identified any companies that meet our stringent criteria on business synergy, quality and reasonable valuations,' he said. 'But our strong cash position gives us the firepower to swoop in on any good opportunities that we spot.'

The stock closed unchanged at 68.5 cents yesterday.

[memphisb]

MM watching this counter?

closed at 0.750 today.

Amazing that brokerage reports that could reocommned hold, sold then place new target at $0.80 within few weeks.

[millionairemind]

Hi Memphisb,

I just post the news as it comes thro'. Any counter that can make me money, I watch with eyes big big either down or up

Cheers,
mm