SINGAPORE (Feb 13): Chasen Holdings, the investment holding company with subsidiaries in specialist relocation solutions, reported its 11th straight quarter of profit.
3Q19 earnings dipped 5% to $1.3 million, of which the flagship specialist relocation business was the largest contributor.
Revenue for 3Q19 rose 8% to $34 million from a year ago, with all three business segments – specialist relocation, third-party logistics (3PL), and technical and engineering (T&E) – reporting growth.
Fully diluted earnings per share in 3Q19 came to 0.33 cent, compared with 0.35 cent in 3Q18 as Chasen’s issued share capital expanded by about 1% after it acquired the remaining 17% of its T&E subsidiary, Hup Lian Engineering.
Notably, the T&E division delivered a better performance as it recognised contributions from a number of new contracts, including some from the $10.2 million worth of projects announced on June 26 2018. These required it to provide, among other things, steel fabrication and scaffolding, as well as the installation of air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation systems.
For the 9M ended Dec, Chasen posted earnings of $4.1 million, 34% more than a year earlier and also the highest in seven years. Revenue rose 7% to $98.7 million.
In its outlook, Low Weng Fatt, Chasen’s Managing Director and CEO, says demand for Chasen’s relocation services is still healthy despite China’s economic slowdown and the ongoing Sino-US trade dispute, as the production output from several move-in projects handled by its China subsidiary is mainly for the Chinese domestic market.
Chasen has declared an interim dividend of 0.1 cent a share, to be paid on March 18. This is its first interim payout in at least 10 years.
As at 3pm, shares in Chasen are down 0.1 cent at 7.5 cents.
