Corporate News - Swiber, Jade, ST Engineering, Wee Hur, China Essence Group,

Posted On Thursday, February 14, 2008 at at 10:31 AM by Finance Analysis  

Swiber Holdings and Principia Recherche & Development SA announced the formation of a joint venture to undertake the supply and sale of studies, design of offshore and marine facilities, as well as related services in the offshore and marine industry in South East Asia. The proposed joint venture company will be 51% owned by Principia, and 49% owned by Swiber’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Kreuz International Pte Ltd. Principia, a subsidiary of AREVA within AREVA TA Business Unit, is specialised in scientific engineering and studies and in the design, manufacture and sale of related software applications in the worldwide marine and offshore business. “Our strategic view is to offer to our customers a larger range of services from conceptual and FEED stage up to detailed design supported by our more than 25 years’ experience in the marine industry combined with the well established know-how of Swiber.” said Benoit de Moulliac, the CEO of Principia.



Jade Technologies Holdings is selling its wholly owned, loss-making subsidiary Jade Precision Engineering (JPE). The company has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with United Pacific Industries (UPI) for the disposal of JPE. The proposed disposal is expected to be completed on Feb 24, with final settlement on March 8. Upon completion, JPE will become a wholly owned subsidiary of UPI. JPE, with annual sales of $35 million in 2007, manufactures stamped, etched and plated leadframes for the semiconductor industry. JPE has been loss-making since 2001. As at Sept 29, 2007, JPE had accumulated losses of $21 million. The estimated total consideration is $6 million, which will be paid to Jade in the form of new UPI shares up to a maximum limit of 43 million new UPI shares (7.8% of existing issued shares or 7.2% of enlarged share capital), with the balance in cash.

ST Engineering said its US shipyard, VT Halter Marine, has secured a new contract to design and build two platform supply vessels (PSVs), which are used to support exploration and offshore production of energy. The contract is valued at between US$45 million and US$55 million and construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2008, with delivery in 2010. The contract was awarded by L&M Botruc Rental Inc, which operates one of the largest fleets of offshore marine transportation vessels in the Gulf, said ST Engg. L&M is also one of the largest privately held supply boat companies and the sixth-largest boat company on the Gulf Coast, it said. The vessels will be used to carry supplies, deck cargo and drilling fluids in supporting offshore operations.

Wee Hur Holdings, a building contractor in Singapore with a range of construction projects, has won two new contracts worth a total $146.5 million. The group announced yesterday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Wee Hur Construction Pte Ltd, has been awarded two projects for a residential development and a commercial development worth $99.9 million and $46.6 million respectively. The first contract, awarded by a subsidiary of the Ho Bee Group, is for a residential development located in the prime Newton Road area. The second contract, awarded by Ascendas (Tuas) Pte Ltd, is the Phase 1 construction of a commercial building at Changi Business Park. The two projects represent an approximately 61% increase over Wee Hur's order book as disclosed in its IPO prospectus.

China Essence Group yesterday reported an 85% yoy rise in net profit to 100.8 million yuan (S$19.9 million) for its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2007. Revenue for the three months almost doubled from 166 million yuan to 330.3 million yuan. The third-quarter results brought nine-month net profit to 174.7 million yuan, up 69%. Revenue climbed 63% to 588.8 million yuan. The group saw a rise in sales volume for its potato starch products, as well as a hike in average selling prices, which was helped by rising consumer prices and China's implementation of anti-dumping regulations on potato starch producers from the European Union since February 2007. Earnings per share for the nine months climbed to 0.45 yuan from 0.27 yuan. Overall gross profit margins dipped from 47.4% to 45.6% because of an increase in the cost of potatoes.

Source: CIMB-GK Securities Pte Ltd

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1 comments:

  1. Alvis Says: February 17, 2008 at 11:23 AM

    i think u should put a email address so that your readers can contact u. Btw, is it okay if we exchange blog link? my blog is http://ainvestor.blogspot.com

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