Boustead Singapore has launched a voluntary unconditional offer for all the shares in Boustead Projects it does not own for 90 cents each.

 

The company intends to privatise Boustead Projects and delist it from the Mainboard of SGX-ST.

 

As at Feb 6, Boustead Singapore directly holds 171 million shares representing approximately 54.87% of the total number of issued shares of Boustead Projects.

 

The proposed acquisition of the shares is in line with Boustead Singapore&rsquo s intentions and ongoing strategic reviews and objective to streamline its investments, businesses, operations and the corporate structure of the group.

 

The company notes that Boustead Projects&rsquo engineering and construction (E& C) business had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, having been posting significantly lower profits compared to historical profit during the pre-pandemic period.

 

Boustead Singapore believes that the proposed acquisition would allow it to focus on rebuilding its business, including its E& C business as a private limited company without the additional obligations that come with being a listed company on the Mainboard of the SGX-ST.

It said the proposed acquisition would allow for a simplification of the group structure and reduce organisational complexity. This would then allow for a sharper focus in operations and increase competitiveness, enhancing shareholder value.

 

The offer provides an opportunity for shareholders to realise their investment at a premium to prevailing market prices, representing a premium of approximately 7.8% over the last traded price per share as quoted on Feb 3.

 

It also represents a premium of 15.2% over the last volume-weighted average price of the shares for the one-month period prior to and including the announcement date.

 

BOUSTEAD Projects&rsquo wholly-owned engineering and construction subsidiary, Boustead Projects E& C, has been awarded a S$300 million design-and-build contract, the real estate solutions provider announced on Monday (Jul 18).

 

The latest contract, awarded by a Fortune 500 corporation, is the group&rsquo s largest project on record, Boustead Projects said.

 

It has boosted the group&rsquo s order backlog to S$523 million, comprising unrecognised project revenue remaining at the end of FY2022 and the total value of new orders secured since then.

 

The project involves the designing and building of a manufacturing facility, integrated with a logistics centre, ancillary office and basement carpark, built to satisfy the requirements for the highest eco-sustainable rating for a building under the Building and Construction Authority&rsquo s revised Green Mark Certification Scheme 2021. 

 

Boustead Projects expects the facility to be completed in the 2024 calendar year.

 

The contract is expected to have a positive material impact on the group&rsquo s profitability and earnings per share, collectively in the financial years ending Mar 31, 2023 and Mar 31, 2024.

 

However, it is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible asset value per share for the same periods, the company said.

 

Boustead Projects&rsquo managing director, Thomas Chu, said: &ldquo This milestone project is also a positive sign that our E& C (engineering and construction) business is regaining momentum amid an improving pandemic situation.&rdquo

 

BOUSTEAD Projects&rsquo wholly-owned engineering and construction subsidiary, Boustead Projects E& C, has been awarded a S$300 million design-and-build contract, the real estate solutions provider announced on Monday (Jul 18).

 

The latest contract, awarded by a Fortune 500 corporation, is the group&rsquo s largest project on record, Boustead Projects said.

 

It has boosted the group&rsquo s order backlog to S$523 million, comprising unrecognised project revenue remaining at the end of FY2022 and the total value of new orders secured since then.

 

The project involves the designing and building of a manufacturing facility, integrated with a logistics centre, ancillary office and basement carpark, built to satisfy the requirements for the highest eco-sustainable rating for a building under the Building and Construction Authority&rsquo s revised Green Mark Certification Scheme 2021. 

 

Boustead Projects expects the facility to be completed in the 2024 calendar year.

 

The contract is expected to have a positive material impact on the group&rsquo s profitability and earnings per share, collectively in the financial years ending Mar 31, 2023 and Mar 31, 2024.

 

However, it is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible asset value per share for the same periods, the company said.

 

Boustead Projects&rsquo managing director, Thomas Chu, said: &ldquo This milestone project is also a positive sign that our E& C (engineering and construction) business is regaining momentum amid an improving pandemic situation.&rdquo

SGX-LISTED Boustead reported a 73 per cent drop in FY2022 ending Mar 31 earnings to S$30.6 million from S$113.1 million due to an absence of one-off gain, it said in a bourse filing on Thursday (May 26).

 

The fall was due to the sale of interests in properties to Boustead Investment Fund in FY2021.

 

Earnings per share for FY2022 fell 73 per cent to S$0.063 from S$0.233.

 

The board has proposed a final dividend of 2.5 cents per share subject to shareholders&rsquo approval, bringing the total divided to 4 cents per share.

 

Revenue for FY2022 fell 8 per cent to S$631.8 million from S$685.7 million due to the impact of inflationary pressures, volatile economic and geopolitical environment and lingering pandemic impact leading to lack of business development opportunities. The energy engineering division revenue fell 43 per cent to S$112.3 million from S$198.4 million on the back of fewer new contracts secured in FY2022 and lower order backlog at the end of FY2021.

 

The Healthcare division revenue fell 21 per cent to S$12 million from S$15.2 million on the impact of pandemic seeing client prioritise Covid-19 needs rather than rehabilitative care and sport science solutions. Boustead Projects led in revenue contributions, rising 13 per cent to S$339.1 million from S$301.4 million on higher recognition on engineering and construction projects in the first half of FY2022. The geospatial division FY2022 revenue dipped slightly to S$168.3 million from S$170.4 million.

 

&ldquo FY2022 bore the full brunt of Covid-19 and this was made worse by challenges like supply chain and cost disruptions, inflationary pressures and geopolitical events with impacts that are most deeply felt on our engineering & construction activities. Among our divisions, Geospatial delivered steadfast results while Healthcare continued to underperform and in this respect, we will step up on our efforts to address the challenges faced,&rdquo said Wong Fong Fui, chairman and group chief executive officer, Boustead.

 

Boustead has been awarded about S$193 million in new contracts in FY2022, with travel restrictions making it difficult to conduct business activities. The company expects the situation to improve with normalisation of travel and business activities.

 

The current order backlog of S$274 million is lower than the S$447 million disclosed in the FY2021 results announcement. Boustead expects the pandemic impact to ease, but the business situation will remain challenging with the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. Margin pressures are also expected to continue with rising inflation, labour and material costs, and supply chain disruptions.

 

The company expects to be profitable for FY2023.

 

&ldquo Previous strict cost management measures and a disciplined, prudent and risk-managed approach to capital allocation and investment decisions, will continue to be applied,&rdquo said Wong.