SIIC Environment Q4 profit grows 8.9% to 185.4m yuan

MAINBOARD-listed water treatment and environmental protection company SIIC Environment Holdings Limited (SIIC) posted an 8.9 per cent increase in its fourth quarter net profit to 185.4 million yuan (S$38.7 million) from 170.3 million yuan in the year before period.

However, earnings per share dipped to 7.11 fen from 7.55 fen from a year ago due to the enlargement of SIIC's share base in May 2017 following a 350 million new ordinary share placement at S$0.63 per share by Shanghai Industrial Holdings.

For the three months ended Dec 31, revenue rose 13.4 per cent to 1.29 billion yuan from 1.13 billion yuan the preceding year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Wednesday.

For the full year, revenue grew by 75.2 per cent to 4.64 billion yuan from 2.65 billion yuan the year before.

For the full year, net profit grew by 17.7 per cent to 535.7 million yuan from 454.9 million yuan the year before.

Net asset value per share edged up to 288.23 fen as at Dec 31, from 264.68 fen in a year ago.

Said Zhou Jun, executive chairman of SIIC: "Our FY2017 results are a testament to the strong fundamentals and sound business strategies that SIIC Environment is built on. We continue to expand across the environmental industry value chain.

"We will further improve our operational efficiency and competitiveness of existing projects, as well as explore opportunities to invest and acquire more accretive assets in China and overseas."

With regard to receiving SIIC shareholders' approval on Jan 29 for a dual listing on the mainboard of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Mr Zhou commented: "The dual listing in Hong Kong is expected to bring about enhanced liquidity for our shareholders and enable the group access to a larger capital base towards sustaining long-term growth."

SIIC shares were trading flat at S$0.515 as at 2.30pm on Wednesday.