Divestment gains lift SIA Engineering's Q1 bottom line

DIVESTMENT gains boosted results for Singapore Airlines Engineering (SIA Engg) for its first quarter.

Net profit rose from S$41.3 million for the first quarter last year to S$198.40 million, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday evening.

During the quarter, the group made a S$141.6 million gain from the divestment of its 10 per cent stake in Hong Kong Aero Engine Services (HAESL) to Rolls-Royce Overseas Holdings and Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company. In addition, the group received a special dividend of S$36.4 million from HAESL following the divestment of HAESL's 20 per cent stake in Singapore Aero Engine Services to Rolls-Royce Singapore, bringing the overall gain from the divestment to S$178 million.

For the three months ended June 30, revenue was 2.1 per cent lower at S$271.6 million from the year-ago period due to a drop in fleet management revenue. This was mitigated in part by higher revenue from line maintenance and airframe and component overhaul.

Q1 earnings per share leapt to 17.67 Singapore cents from 3.68 Singapore cents in the previous year.

Net asset value per share rose to 137.9 Singapore cents as at June 30, from 132.4 Singapore cents as at three months ago.