UE's FY15 profit falls 17% without contribution from discontinued businesses

UNITED Engineers' (UE) net profit fell 17 per cent in 2015 to S$102.2 million in the absence of earnings from discontinued operations.

On a per-share basis, profit was 16 cents per share for the year ended December 2015 for the property and engineering group.

Excluding S$77.5 million of profit from the year-ago results contributed by the automotive and flexible circuit board businesses that UE sold, net profit in 2015 from continuing operations would have seen a 122 per cent increase.

The company is declaring a payout of eight Singapore cents per share for common stock holders, comprising a five cent per share final dividend and a special dividend of three Singapore cents per share. The company will also pay 7.5 Singapore cents per preference share.

Revenue fell 42 per cent in 2015 to S$1.9 billion in the absence of the divested businesses and without year-ago contributions from the Austville Residences property project.

UE said that its property business continues to face challenging conditions in Singapore and China.