Hot stock: Yongnam shares surge 20% on news of contract win

SHARES of steel-fabrication company Yongnam Holdings surged 20 per cent in morning trading on Thursday, following news of its winning a US$1.4 billion contract to build Yangon's second international airport with two other consortium partners.

At 10.07am, the stock jumped 4 cents to 24 Singapore cents; 24.3 million shares changed hands in the morning.

The company had said on Wednesday: "The consortium has been selected as the successful tenderer by Myanmar's Department of Civil Aviation for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Hanthawaddy International Airport (HIA) and its facilities on the basis of a public-private partnership agreement for a 30-year concession."

The consortium comprises Yongnam, Changi Airport Planners and Engineers (Cape) and Japan-based engineering contractor JGC Corporation. Cape is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changi Airports International, a unit of the Changi Airport Group.

The HIA, located 80 km out of Yangon, will be built and run by the consortium. Expected to be completed by December 2019, it will be capable of handling 12 million passengers a year, more than thrice the reported 3.7 million arrivals received by Yangon International Airport last year.