Parkway Life REIT 2Q FY08 Results Outperforms Forecast

Parkway Life REIT saw higher gross rental revenue as a result of higher than expected revenue from its Singapore hospital assets, as well as additional income from its three new Japanese assets. Gross rental revenue was at $12.49m for 2Q FY08, an 11% increase over the minimum guaranteed rent of $11.25m or an 8.83% increase over the forecast figure of $11.48m. Net property income was at $11.7m for 2Q FY08, a 10.44% increase over the minimum guaranteed rent of $10.6m or an 8.14% increase over the forecast figure of $10.82m. Income available for distribution was at $10.01m for 2Q FY08, an 8.96% increase over the minimum guaranteed rent of $9.19m or a 6.35% increase over the forecast figure of $9.41m. Total expenses for 2Q FY08 were at $2.92m, or a 22.1% increase over the forecast figure of $2.39m. DPU for 2Q FY08 is 1.66 cents, in line with the increase in income available for distribution.

HG Metal’s 3Q2008 Earnings Swell 277% To $28.5m

HG Metal has registered an impressive set of results for the quarter (3Q2008) and nine months (9M2008) ended 30 June 2008. Gross profit increased by 126% from $18.9m in 3Q2007 to $42.7m in 3Q2008, against a 90% increase in turnover to $234m for the same period. The higher turnover is a direct outcome of higher steel prices and robust demand for steel products from both the construction and the shipbuilding and ship repair sectors. Following the strong demand for steel products, the Group expanded its warehousing capacity last year and is keeping a relatively high level of inventory. Stocking more with rising steel prices helped the Group’s gross profit margin to improve from 15.3% in 3Q2007 to 18.3% in 3Q2008. This helped the net profit attributable to shareholders jump 277% from $7.6m to $28.5m.

SMRT’s Net Profit Rose 6.2% To $40.3m For 1Q09

SMRT’s revenue in 1Q09 rose 11.2% to $215.9m as compared to the corresponding quarter last year, driven mainly by higher train and rental revenue. Total operating expenses in 1Q09 increased 13.1% or $20.0m to $173.3m due mainly to increases in staff and related costs, energy costs and other operating expenses. On account of higher revenue and other operating income partially offset by higher operating cost, the Group achieved an operating profit of $48.2m, 8% higher than 1Q08. Net profit after tax was 6.2% higher at $40.3m due mainly to higher operating profits partially offset by higher income tax expenses and lower interest and investment income in 1Q09.

Keppel Secures $181m Vessel Building Contract

Keppel Offshore & Marine’s wholly owned subsidiary, Keppel Singmarine, has secured a $181m contract to build a multi-purpose heavylift/pipelay vessel for Romanian drilling contractor, Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP). Well-suited for unrestricted service worldwide, GSP’s new vessel is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2011, and will be deployed to the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions.

Yellow Pages Makes Voluntary Cash Offer To Buy Cityneon

Yellow Pages (Singapore) has announced that it intends to make a voluntary conditional cash offer to acquire all the issued ordinary shares in the capital of Cityneon Holdings, at $0.55 in cash for each offer. The acquisition of Cityneon is in line with Yellow Pages’ growth strategy and will accelerate the latter’s transformation to a leading multi-platform integrated directory search and advertising solutions provider.