Pan-United's earnings jumped 8% to $10.3m

But shipping still remained weak.

According to CIMB, 1Q13 PATMI of S$10.3m (+8% yoy) came as no surprise, with growth lifted by Basic Building Resources (BBR) and higher utilisation for CXP.

Shipping, though weak, turned around from losses last year to operational profits in 1Q13. BBR margins were affected by one-off demurrage charges as bad weather earlier this year hampered material deliveries; gross-margin erosion here, though, was less than S$1m.

Here's more from CIMB:

Port & logistics did well with CXP handling higher cargo volume (higher volumes of pulp & paper and logs offset lower steel handled).

While construction should lift revenue with the number of public projects that the group is active in, we believe BBR margins are likely to fall due to costlier raw materials and a potential increase in transport costs.

Positive operating momentum is likely to continue into 2013 for shipping, although we still believe that a full-blown recovery will only come about in FY14.