Soilbuild swings into the red with loss of S$3.5m in Q4

SOILBUILD Construction Group swung into the loss for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 with S$3.5 million in red ink.

The group ascribed the loss to lower contributions from its major projects in Singapore which were either completed in FY2016 or FY2017, or are progressing towards completion during the period under review.

Soilbuild clocked revenue of S$39.26 million for fourth quarter of 2017, a drop of 56.1 per cent from the year-ago period.

Revenue contributed by newly secured projects in Singapore - ie the Bedok Food City Project, 164 and 171 Kallang Way Projects - were not significant, the group said, as they are still at their initial construction phase.

Looking at the full year ended Dec 31, 2017, Soilbuild recorded a loss attributable to equity holders of the company of S$6.73 million from a S$11.94 million profit the previous year, on the back of a 49.8 per cent drop in revenue to S$200.77 million.

Loss per share was similarly down to 0.47 Singapore cent for Q4 2017, with net asset value per ordinary share at 12.33 Singapore cents.

Soilbuild said that it expects that tenders in the local market will continue to be challenging in the near future as a result of the continual weaknesses in the industry, adding that tender bid prices will stay competitive with compressed margins.

"The group will participate more in the tenders for construction of industrial buildings in Myanmar where the group sees a healthy demand for factories and warehouses in the market," it said.

Soilbuild's order book as at Dec 31, 2017 stands at S$451.9 million, of which S$276 million are local construction projects, with the remaining S$175.9 million coming from Myanmar construction projects.

The counter last traded on Feb 12, 2018, closing at 17 Singapore cents apiece.