Boustead Singapore Q1 profit falls 58% on currency loss, weakness in key segments

INFRASTRUCTURE engineering company Boustead Singapore's net profit for its fiscal first quarter fell 58 per cent to S$2.9 million, or 0.6 Singapore cent per share, on currency effects and weakness in the oil & gas and Singapore industrial real estate markets.

Revenue for the three months ended June 30 shrank 21 per cent to S$90.3 million on slowdown in all key segments, the company announced on Thursday after the market closed.

Energy-related engineering revenue declined 29 per cent to S$18.6 million amid "the depressed state of the global oil and gas industries", the company said.

A "challenging" industrial real estate sector in Singapore also dragged real estate solutions revenue lower by 25 per cent to S$45.7 million. The geo-spatial technology division saw revenue reduce by 3 per cent to S$25.7 million, although Boustead said demand remained firm across Australia and parts of South-east Asia.

The bottom line took a hit as S$1.7 million of currency exchange losses led to the recognition of S$1.6 million of other losses, compared to S$0.9 million of other gains a year ago.

Net asset value improved to 62.5 Singapore cents per share as at end-June from 61.7 Singapore cents per share as at end-March.

The company has an order book backlog of S$209 million, of which S$72 million is under the energy-related engineering division and S$137 million is under real estate solutions. Boustead expects to be profitable in FY18, but as much as in FY17.