Boustead To Build High-Tech Devt In Ubi

Source : The Business Times, July 31, 2007

$74m design-and- build job due to be completed Dec 2008

ENGINEERING group Boustead Singapore, through its 91.7 per cent owned subsidiary, Boustead Projects Pte Ltd, has clinched a $74million contract to design and build a high-tech development in the Ubi district.

The 41,200 square metre floor area high-tech development, comprising two connecting glass buildings rising up to seven storeys, is due for completion by December 2008.

Strategically located next to the Pan-Island Expressway and near the future MacPherson MRT Station and Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway, the project will boast state-of-the-art technology, including a fibre optic network, wireless connectivity, an integrated building management system and provisions for dual feed power supply and back-up power generators.

These features will cater to the back-office functions of transnational companies, as well as firms in the precision engineering and information technology sectors.

This is the fifth contract secured by Boustead Projects in the last few months. Since February, the Boustead unit has secured some $160 million worth of new projects, accounting for about half of the group's current order book of $320 million.

'This contract represents the largest contract secured by the group to date,' said Wong Fong Fui, chairman and group chief executive officer of Boustead.

'We hope to continue drawing on our vast expertise and established position for industrial real estate solutions to secure more design-and-build opportunities,' Mr Wong said.

The contract is expected to have a positive material impact on the profitability and earnings per share of the company in the current financial year ending March 31, 2008, and the next financial year ending March 31, 2009.

Boustead said that the contract is not expected to have a material impact on the net asset value per share of the company for the current and the next financial year.

Boustead Projects accounts for about 30 per cent of the group's revenue. The group's other key business units are energy, water & wastewater engineering, and geo-spatial technology.

The group's full-year earnings grew 42 per cent to $35.2 million for the year ended March 31, 2007, from $24.9 million previously.

This came on the back of a 19 per cent revenue rise to $343.86 million for the year ended March 2007.

The Boustead counter ended two cents lower at $2.18 yesterday, on volume of 94,000 shares.