ST Engineering's profit up 16.9% to $577.95m in FY2019

All of its business segments posted increases in net profit.

ST Engineering’s net profit jumped 17% YoY to $577.95m in FY2019 from $494.24m in 2018, an announcement revealed. Likewise, revenue also went up 17% YoY to $7.87b from $6.70b over the same period.

Pre-tax profit also grew 12% YoY to $695.2m from $620.7m. All of ST Engineering's business segments posted net profit increases.

Its aerospace sector recorded net profit growth of 10% YoY to $268.9m in FY2019, thanks to contribution from a new income stream, MRAS, net favourable impact from end-of-programme reviews, and favourable tax adjustment. However, this was offset by the impairment of assets and unfavourable sales mix and the absence of portfolio rationalisation gain.

The net profit of the electronics sector inched up 2% YoY to $190.7 over the same period, in line with higher revenue despite the offsetting impact of transaction and integration costs for new acquisitions. Meanwhile, its land systems sector’s net profit surged 46% YoY to $77.3m, due mainly to higher revenue and absence of loss from portfolio rationalisation.

Lastly, ST Engineering’s marine sector recorded a net profit growth of 14% YoY to $51.5m in FY2019, due mainly to improved performance from US operations and sale of ROPAX.

Other segments also showed better performance in the same period, attributed to Miltope and the absence of MTN related redemption costs.

The group’s dividend was declared at 10.0 cents apiece, translating to a dividend yield of 4%. The contracts it secured in 2019 amounted to $8b, including $1b for the one unit of Polar Security Cutter. Its order book stood at $15.3b in FY2019, and is expected to deliver about $5.9b in 2020.

For Q4 2019, ST Engineering’s net profit 36% YoY to $169.5m from $124.5m, whilst revenue jumped 29% YoY to $2.3b from $1.8b.