Keppel Corp’s profit up 7% to S$696m

This is compared to the S$651m profit for the first half of 2010.

Mr Choo Chiau Beng, Chief Executive Officer, said, “The premium in dayrates for high-spec jackups has continued to drive its order momentum. Our Offshore & Marine business secured $7.2 billion of new orders in the first half of the year, a record level for a half year. We have since achieved $7.4 billion of new orders to date, equaling our previous record of new orders in the full year of 2007.”

He said the bulk of the orders this year are for high-spec jackups in their proprietary designs, including a total of 13 orders in the first half for their KFELS B Class.

Meanwhile in their Infrastructure Division, Keppel Integrated Engineering has obtained the business licence for a water reclamation project in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. Keppel Energy saw strong earnings momentum as well.

Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation has also been seeking opportunities to grow its logistics and data centre businesses. Mr Choo Chiau Beng said Keppel T&T is also studying the feasibility of participating in the Jilin Food Zone project, in addition to its plans to develop and operate a green integrated logistics distribution centre in the Tianjin Eco-City.

He added, “On property, as the various cooling measures take effect in Singapore and China's property markets, Keppel Land has seized the opportunity to acquire quality sites. We won the bids in Sengkang in Singapore and Shanghai in China. Keppel Land China has also broken ground on its first mixed use development in China.”

The company will be paying shareholders an interim distribution of 17 cents per share.