Stocks to watch: Keppel Infrastructure Trust, Sunpower, Boustead Projects, CSC, Jason Marine

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday:

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT): KIT's trustee-manager has set up a S$1 billion multicurrency debt issuance programme on May 23. Under the programme, Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management may, from time to time, issue notes and perpetual securities in Singapore dollars, US dollars or other currencies agreed between the trustee-manager and the relevant dealer(s), it said in an exchange filing late Thursday night. KIT units closed up 0.5 Singapore cent at 47 cents on Thursday.

Sunpower Group: Environmental solutions firm Sunpower Group has secured a 43.6 million yuan (S$8.7 million) contract to provide high-efficiency heat exchangers to its repeat customer, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co, the mainboard-listed firm announced on Thursday. Following delivery of the project at the end of 2019, Sunpower expects a positive impact on its results for the financial years 2019 and 2020 ended December. Sunpower shares closed at 43.5 Singapore cents on Thursday, down 0.5 cent.

Boustead Projects: Real estate player Boustead Projects saw earnings fall 2 per cent year on year to S$5.7 million for the fourth quarter ended March 31, amid weaker gross margins in its core design-and-build segment, coupled with depreciation costs. The mainboard-listed firm however saw revenue rise 50 per cent year on year to S$69.3 million, supported by a change in accounting policy, and a 60 per cent surge in design-and-build revenue to S$62 million, due to order book backlog carried forward at the end of FY2018. Boustead Projects has proposed a final ordinary dividend of 1.5 Singapore cents and a special dividend of 0.5 cent, adding up to two cents per share. For the full year, the company saw earnings rise 5 per cent to S$30.6 million, as revenue grew 38 per cent to S$234.2 million. Earnings per share for the quarter stood at 1.8 Singapore cents, unchanged from a year ago, while earnings per share for the full-year came in at 9.9 cents, up from 9.1 cents in the preceding year. The counter closed at S$1.02 on Thursday, down one cent.

CSC Holdings: Geotechnical engineering firm CSC Holdings sank further into the red, with losses deepening 20.6 per cent to S$6.9 million for the fourth quarter ended March 31. Loss per share came in at 0.3 Singapore cent, versus loss per share of 0.26 cent in the year-ago quarter. This was partly due to a provision for loss of S$1 million on a project with cost overruns arising from stricter regulatory requirements, and unforeseen difficult ground conditions, the company said. Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter dipped 0.9 per cent to S$74.7 million, as compared to a year earlier. For the full year, CSC's losses widened 34 per cent to S$18 million, on the back of a 4.6 per cent drop in revenue to S$323.1 million. This translated to a loss per share of 0.86 Singapore cent, versus a loss per share of 0.65 cent previously. CSC shares closed at 1.8 Singapore cents on Thursday, up 0.1 cent.

Jason Marine Group: Jason Marine saw FY2019 revenue dip 8.4 per cent to S$29 million for the year ended March 31, due to weak demand for its goods in the marine and oil and gas industries, the company announced on Thursday. The firm's full-year earnings quadrupled to S$191,000 compared to last year, albeit bolstered by foreign exchange movements. This translated to earnings per share of 0.18 Singapore cent, from 0.04 cent last year. Excluding forex gains and losses, allowance for impairment of other receivables, and fair-value loss on derivative financial instruments, net profit would have fallen 26.2 per cent to S$1.2 million for FY2019. Jason Marine has declared a first and final dividend of 0.5 Singapore cent per share, unchanged from a year ago. Shares of Jason Marine last traded at 12 Singapore cents on May 7, up three cents.