Mermaid Maritime soars to six-month peak before results

[SINGAPORE] Thailand-based Mermaid Maritime Plc, a provider of subsea and drilling services, was on course for its biggest daily gain in over a month yesterday, ahead of its annual results release, while Singapore's stock index inched higher.

Shares of Mermaid Maritime soared as much as 9.5 per cent to a six-month peak at S$0.41, ahead of release for earnings for fiscal year 2013 later this week. More than 9 million shares were traded, about 1.3 times its average 30-day full-day volume. "We expect earnings to grow by 2.1 times yoy (year-on-year) to US$33.1 million for FY14, thanks to positive contributions from all segments. Against a rosy outlook, we expect subsea momentum to continue," CIMB analyst Yeo Zhi Bin said in a research note.

CIMB maintained an "outperform" call on Mermaid and raised its target price on the stock to S$0.47.