Marine Link
Friday, March 29, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Elizabeth Cheng News

11 Feb 2000

Singapore Yards Back on Track?

Singapore's two ship-repair yards, Keppel Hitachi Zosen Ltd. and SembCorp Marine Ltd., are expected to report modest profit growth after almost two years of restructuring and consolidation. Keppel Hitachi Zosen was expected to turn in profit of about S$33 million for 1999 after a S$65 million loss for the nine months ended December 1998, analysts said. SembCorp Marine, due to release results today (Feb. 14), should post a 10 percent rise in earnings of between S$78 million and S$80 million against 1998 profit of S$71.81 million. Squeezed by rising land and wage costs, Singapore's shipyard industry underwent a consolidation in 1997 and 1998 that saw the city state's main players reduced to two from four.

10 Dec 1999

NOL Shares Drop Amid Rumors Of Rating Revision

Shares of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) fell almost seven percent in heavy trade last Thursday on talk there was some re-rating of the stock following changes in the MSCi index. The shipping group was down 15 cents or six percent at S$2.28 after hitting a low of S$2.26 earlier. Volume was a heavy 12.19 million shares. NOL had lost 10 percent of its value since the start of last week where it stood at S$2.54. "The selling has been very heavy since the start of the week. There is also an earnings downgrade by houses like Salomon Smith Barney," a broker said. A few houses have been downgrading the stock on concerns over higher bunker charges, but some analysts said it might be too early to state the actual impact on NOL.