TODAY'S HEADLINE


KEPPEL CORP Q2 PROFIT JUMPS 35% TO $521M  


A Surge in second'quarter earnings at Keppel Corporation's property division, Keppel Land, helped drive up the parent conglomerate's Q2 net pro't by 35 per cent to $521 million from $385 million a year earlier.
Revenue for the three months ended June 30 rose 52 per cent to $3.48 billion from $2.29 billion.
Keppel Land's sales recognition for more than 1,000 units at Re'ections at Keppel Bay and its overseas properties helped spur Keppel Corp's 'rst'half net pro't to a record $1.27 billion, up 83 per cent year'on'year from $696 million.

H1 revenue rose 69 per cent to $7.75 billion from $4.58 billion. Keppel Corp announced an interim dividend of 18 cents a share for the 'rst half, up from 17 cents in the year'ago period. Earnings per share for Q2 and H1 were 29.1 cents and 71 cents, respectively.

However, Keppel Corp executives were quick to caution that the stellar numbers were likely to be a one'o'. Said chief executive o'cer Choo Chiau Beng at a results brie'ng yesterday: "I must stress that our lumpy performance in this 'rst half is exceptional and will not be repeated in the second half, as it is largely supported by the one'time pro'ts from our property division."

Chief 'nancial o'cer Loh Chin Hua noted that net pro't for H1 FY2012 eclipsed the $1.19 billion Keppel Corp recorded in FY2009. In the 'rst six months of 2012, property contributed about $569 million to Keppel Corp's Q2 earnings, 've  times the $108 million of last year.

Keppel Corp's core o'shore and marine division contributed $484 million to H1 net pro't. However, its new order wins so far in 2012 totalled $2 billion, well below the $7.4 billion bumper crop secured in the same period in 2011.


NEWS BUZZ


SIA Engineering (S$4.23) 
Bags $166m Cebu Air job  
SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) has inked a new 've'year contract worth $166mil with Cebu Air. SIAEC will provide 'eet management and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services to Cebu Air. The carrier's 'eet of 30 A320/ A319 aircra'' will grow to 48 as new A320s are delivered over the next 've years. This latest contract brings the total revenue of SIAEC's contracts with the Philippine budget airline to $236 million.

Mapletree Logistics (S$1.015) 
DPU up 6.3% in Q1
Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) posted improved results for the 1Q ended June 30, with total distributable income rising 18% to $45.8mil. The higher distributable income boosted the group's DPU for the quarter by 6.3% to 1.70 cents. Turnover climbed 17% to $77.1mil from last year on the back of contributions from seven Japan properties that were acquired in March and four properties purchased in Korea and Malaysia in Q1 FY12/13. But net property income still managed a healthy year'on'year gain of 18% to $67.5mil despite the higher cost base. MLT's por''olio comprised 109 properties as at end'June, with a total book value of around $4.2bil.

Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (S$1.465) 
Posts DPU of 2.361 cents in Q2  
Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust's DPU dipped 6.8% to 2.361 cents for the 2Q ended June 30. Distributable income for the quarter fell 5.7% to $53mil. Gross revenue for the same period rose 18% to $144.3mil, mainly because of the consolidation of Suntec Singapore's revenue a''er the Reit acquired an additional 40.8% of the property in August 2011. Net property income in 1H was $94.4mil. The group's NAV per unit was $1.979 as at June 30.

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (S$1.755) 
Q3 DPU rises 33%
Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) has raised its DPU for the April'June 'nancial 3Q by a third to a record 2.60 cents. The year'on'year DPU hike came as the trust, which owns 've suburban malls in Singapore, achieved a 32.1% jump in net property income (NPI) to $24.6mil for the three months, supported by Causeway Point's strong NPI growth of 60.9% over 3Q11.
Source: The Business Times

Source: AmFraser