Corporate digest
Hyflux
HYFLUX has agreed to eventually buy a 30 per cent stake in European consumer water technology company Kaqun Europe for US$8 million. Kaqun and Hyflux will also develop a line of products under the brand "ELO" to be sold in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. The product line will be sold through a new company called Elo Water, in which Hyflux Consumer Products will own a 70 per cent stake and Kaqun Europe will own the remaining 30 per cent. Kaqun Europe was launched in 2002 and sells beauty products that use its particular brand of water. Hyflux shares gained 1.5 per cent to close at 67.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday.
Halcyon Agri Corp
HALCYON Agri turned around to post a US$47,000 net profit in the third quarter on the back of its newly acquired trading business, the rubber producer announced on Wednesday. Halcyon had posted a quarterly loss of US$12.2 million a year earlier. For the quarter ended September 2015, per-share earnings were 0.01 US cent. Net profit for the first nine months was US$4.5 million, or 1.07 US cents per share, a reversal from the year-ago net loss of US$11.2 million. Quarterly revenue rose 141.6 per cent to US$274.6 million mostly due to an increase in sales volume. Halcyon said the price environment remains "challenging, disconnected from fundamentals and extremely volatile". Shares of Halcyon gained 2.5 cents on Wednesday to close at 72 Singapore cents.
Hock Lian Seng
HOCK Lian Seng's nine-month net profit more than tripled to S$25.2 million, or 4.9 Singapore cents per share, mostly from revenue recognised from property development projects. The infrastructure engineering company saw a threefold increase in revenue to S$149.8 million for the nine months ended September as it recognised S$89 million of revenue from the industrial development property project Ark@KB in March and from the sale of additional units at Ark@Gambas. That revenue led to S$21.4 million of net profit from property development. The company had no revenue from property development in the year-ago period. Hock Lian Seng's core civil engineering segment also saw revenue growth of 43.9 per cent to S$53.4 million during the nine-month period. Gross profit, however, shrank by a third to S$5 million. The company said it had an order book of about S$408 million for ongoing projects in civil engineering. The company will also be building its own industrial development property at Tuas, with construction expected to start by the end of the year and completion slated for the first half of 2018. Shares of Hock Lian Seng closed flat at 38.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday.
