HSL 2Q net profit up 16% to RM20.89m on SCORE jobs

KUALA LUMPUR: HOCK SENG LEE BHD [] (HSL) net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011 rose 16% to RM20.89 million from RM17.98 million a year earlier, due mainly to the aggressive rollout of the SCORE projects.

The company said on Aug 25 that its revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% to RM148.88 million from RM111.26 million a year earlier. Earnings per share (EPS) increased from last year's 3.27sen to 3.78sen.

HSL declared a first gross interim dividend of 6% per share, to be paid on Oct 7, 2011.

For the six months ended June 30, HSL’s net profit rose to RM31.52 million in FY10 to RM38.56 million in FY11.

Revenue for the first half of the year rose 33.8% from RM 203.56 million in the previous year to RM272.51 million.

Its current order book stands at some RM1.7 billion with RM1.1 billion outstanding.

The company procured RM532 million worth of projects in 2010.

HSL managing director Datuk Paul Yu Chee Hoe in a statement said the prospects for the company continued to be good as there were abundant opportunities for it to
draw on its marine engineering, civil engineering and CONSTRUCTION [] expertise.

He said that HSL had had an exceptional first half in 2010 and managed to perform better this year.

"With our existing contracts in hand, we are comfortably poised to emulate past years of growth in 2011, but I am also confident that we can add to the RM153 million worth of new contracts we have secured so far".

Last week, HSL announced procurement of a sub-contract worth RM45.7 million for a rural water supply project in SIbu Division involving water treatment facilities and piping.

“With no borrowings and cash reserves of over RM100 million, HSL has the financial capacity as well as the technical capabilities to take on additional major infrastructure works”, said Yu.