CSE Q4 posts S$37.3m loss

CHALLENGING business and operating environments, and a one-off impairment on its financial assets dampened results for mainboard-listed CSE Global Limited (CSE) in its fourth quarter.

CSE sank into the red, recording a net loss of S$37.3 million, from a net profit of S$6.2 million in the previous year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday evening.

As such, the company recorded a loss per share of 7.23 Singapore cents, from earnings per share of 1.19 Singapore cents in the preceding year.

For the three months ended Dec 31, revenue shot up 49.1 per cent to S$116.7 million from the previous year.

For CSE's fiscal 2017, the group recorded a revenue increase of 14 per cent year-on-year to S$362.4 million on the back of higher revenues generated from its operations in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. Net loss for the full year stood at S$45.1 million.

Net asset value per share fell to 33.71 cents as at Dec 31, from 48.7 cents in a year ago.

CSE's has proposed a final dividend of one cent per ordinary share and a special dividend of 0.5 cent per ordinary share.

In total, CSE will be paying out a total cash dividend of 2.75 cents per ordinary share for for fiscal 2017, which includes an earlier interim cash dividend of 1.25 cent that was distributed in September 2017.

Said Lim Boon Kheng, group managing director of CSE: "With a current outlook of the higher flow orders in greenfield and brownfield orders, the group expects a much better performance in fiscal 2018."

"Going forward, CSE will focus on cost control and consolidating the acquisitions made in fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017, and will continue to explore acquisition opportunities to support its long-term sustainable growth objectives," he added.

CSE shares ended S$0.015 or 4.2 per cent lower at S$0.345 on Friday.