MAINBOARD-LISTED Tee International returned to the black in the second quarter, on the absence of losses from discontinued business operations.

In its unaudited financial statements released on Tuesday, the group reported a net profit of S$547,000 for the three months to Nov 30, 2020, reversing the loss of S$35.9 million in the year before.

This was even as revenue was more than halved to S$46.4 million, down from S$97.5 million previously, with the completion of a major project in the year-ago period.

The bottom line was shored up by the divestment in early 2020 of a 63.28 per cent stake in Tee Land, which had been behind an earlier loss of S$36.6 million.

Tee International also recognised a S$50,000 rebate in its latest half-year from the would-be purchaser in the aborted disposal of Arrow Waste Management.

For the six months, Tee International reported a net profit of S$1.01 million, against a loss of S$37.8 million in the year-ago period.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Revenue was down by 61.2 per cent year on year to S$66.8 million, with engineering and construction activity slowing down amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Construction works have since fully resumed, but Tee International noted that safety requirements have made manpower deployment challenging; it expects progress and costs in the engineering and construction segment to be affected in the near term.

In the infrastructure segment, Tee International has expanded into disinfection services for commercial premises, but will continue its efforts to selectively divest its investment in overseas infrastructure assets, the group added.

No dividend has been recommended for the period, unchanged from the year before, with the board noting that "the company is in a (sic) accumulated loss-making position".