INTERVIEW - Singapore's CSC Holdings eyes Indian, Vietnamese markets 6/8/2007 1:25:00

INTERVIEW - Singapore's CSC Holdings eyes Indian, Vietnamese markets 6/8/2007 1:25:00
PM SINGAPORE (XFN-ASIA) -

CSC Holdings Ltd, a building foundation specialist, is looking at opportunities in India and Vietnam because it expects these two countries to accelerate their investment in infrastructure in the next few years, CSC president and group chief executive See Yen Tarn said. See told XFN-Asia in an interview that setting its sights on opportunities overseas should give the group balanced growth in the future, should the construction boom here falter -- although at this stage it was likely that the boom would continue. "We have a clear visibility in the domestic market in the next 3-5 years," See said. The construction industry here is busy building casino resorts at Marina Bay and on Sentosa island, new shopping malls on Orchard Road, the Marina Bay Financial Centre and upmarket residential condominiums in and around the central business district. CSC's latest results reflect the industry's rapid growth. In the financial year ended March, CSC's net profit surged 127.6 pct to 8.6 mln sgd as revenue rose 18.1 pct to 126.7 mln sgd and net profit margins widened to 7.3 pct from 4.1 pct. Growth in the next few years will be underpinned by the group's order book, worth about 380 mln sgd, which includes a 240 mln sgd contract secured by CSC's wholly-owned subsidiary L&M Foundation Specialist Pte Ltd with the Marina Bay Sands casino resort. See said CSC's capacity was almost fully utilized now, given that Marina Bay Sands, which opens in 2009, and other projects here will keep the group busy in the next few years. See said that he would focus on finishing projects already in the pipeline rather than go after new projects vigorously. "We should be able to secure a few more jobs, but we do have capacity constraints," See said. The tight supply of specialized construction equipment and labor are among these constraints. See said his company would begin taking opportunities abroad only next year or after. He believes the next construction booms will be in India and Vietnam, because both countries have under-invested in infrastructure and the economic growth there in the past few years has put a strain on infrastructure. He reckons CSC will be able to seize opportunities in Malaysia much more quickly than in Vietnam or India because it already has a foothold in Malaysia. In March 2006, CSC bought G-Pile Sistem Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian provider of hydraulic jack-in piling services. "G-Pile will be our platform to expand into Malaysia," See said. There are also a number of infrastructure and property projects in Malaysia, notably the plan to transform the Iskandar Development Region in the southern state of Johor into an industrial and tourism hub.

Pan United Marine / Superbowl

Sigh... 1 more gem being taken over. There was a takeover offer of 2.38 from Dubai Drydocks World. I think I have not much to comment but it is too low which I expect to reach 3.00. Ex-cash, it is about 10-11x PE. Looks like the Ng family will like to enjoy their fruits of labour early. What I am puzzled is why are they selling so low unless they have a better investments around ?

My entry price is from 50 cents + and even accumulated in Feb around 1.7. It gave me very good returns as well as big dividends. I will miss this one. I sold everything at 2.41, which I was quite surprised someone took. Either something is still brewing or someone did not do his sums right. Well.....

I am looking at some of the other oil counters and another 1-2 counters right now to replace this.

Superbowl - it shoot up about 50% from my buying price, while this may continue, I think it is good enough for me.

Old Airport Road property

I am helping a colleague to source for property around where I stay - Old Airport Road. Wah the property here really sells like hot cakes. When I tried to source and co-broke, most of the flats were sold. The only ones left were low floors or Non-Chinese.

She wanted to have a flat here where is near her in-laws so that travelling to-fro to collect her 1 yr old son from her in-laws will be much more convenient. Now, it is a bit of logistic nightmare as she lives quite far. Also she is targetting the Kong Hua school for a son.

I have been enquiring around and the transacted price here is also also about 20% above valuation. That means about 50-60K cash uprfront. Well, that is the price to pay for the convenience and location - school and when the MRT circle line comes in.

Shanghai Metro and XinTianDi

I was in Shanghai last week and went to Metro Shanghai and XinTianDi. Metro Shanghai is located in Xin Jia Hui, one of the most popular crowded area, like orchard road in Singapore . It was very crowded even in the weekdays.
















It is a famous IT complex outside Xin Jia Hui Station.
















On my other day, I met up with my China friends at Xin Tian Di. It is a high class night entertainment area with alot of foreigners. It has very colonial background and according to my China friends, the land in XinTian Di went up from 8-10 K to 40K RMB per Sqm once Shui On announced the builidng of the site.


I am quite optimistic on this gem as Metro is still trading below NAV of 1.2+ and I believe once Metro Beijing comes onstream, profits will continue to roll in. A China Reit could be in the offering as well :)

INTEGRATED RESORTS PROJECT AT MARINA BAY

Something made my day today and tomorrow ! :) Clinching the Marina is a fantastic results! Next Sentosa will be much easier as the contracts will be farmed to local contractors.

I have full confidence this will continue to reach greater heights. With Tat Hong as a strong backer, look for it to go into Middle East. Vietnam will is in the infancy stage of industrailization will be next. $1 ? let's see.

The Board of Directors (“The Board”) of CSC Holdings Limited (the “Company”) wishes to
announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, L&M Foundation Specialist Pte Ltd has been
awarded a contract by Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd for the Marina Bay Sands Integrated
Resort Development, Package 2220 – Construction Contract for Piling and Diaphragm Walls
(Podium North).
This contract sum is approximately $240 million. Works are scheduled to commence in June
2007 and expected to be completed in February 2008.
This contract is expected to contribute positively to the financial results of the Company and
its subsidiaries for the current financial year.
None of the directors or substantial shareholders of the Company has any interest, direct or
indirect, in the above contracts.
By Order of the Board
Lee Quang Loong
Company Secretary
Date : 21 May 2007
About CSC Holdings Limited (“CSC”)
CSC is a foundation and geotechnical engineering specialist. CSC offers a full range of
design-and-build capabilities includes Large Diameter Bored Pile, Diaphragm Wall, Driven-Pile,
Jack-in-Pile, Micro Pile and Soil Investigation & Instrumentation.

Intelligence not linked to wealth, according to US study

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Intelligence has nothing to do with wealth, according to a US study published Tuesday which found that people with below average smarts were just as wealthy as those with higher IQ scores.
"People don't become rich because they are smart," said Jay Zagorsky, research scientist at Ohio State University whose study appears in the Journal Intelligence.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics survey included 7,403 Americans who have been interviewed repeatedly since 1979. Based on 2004 answers, people who are now in their mid-40s showed no link between brain- and earning-power.
"Your IQ has really no relationship to your wealth. And being very smart does not protect you from getting into financial difficulty," Zagorsky said.
The study confirmed previous research which has shown that smarter people tend to earn more money, but pointed out there is a difference between high pay and overall wealth.
"The average income difference between a person with an IQ score in the normal range (100) and someone in the top two percent of society (130) is currently between 6,000 and 18,500 dollars per year," it said.
"But when it came to total wealth and the likelihood of financial difficulties, people of below average and average intelligence did just fine when compared to the super-intelligent."
An irregular pattern of total wealth as well as financial distress levels -- such as maxed out credit cards, bankruptcy and missing bill payments -- emerged among the various degrees of intelligence, the study said.
The study measured intelligence based on scores from the US Armed Services Qualification Test, a general aptitude test used by the Department of Defense

First Deal as Property agent

I signed up as a property agent with Propnex a week ago. Propnex by the way is the biggest property agency in Singapore.

And quickly after spreading some leads via SMS, I was pleasantly surprise to have a return SMS. It was from my NUS friend's brother, who is looking for a Orlando condo in Toa Payoh.

I quickly replied contacted him to get his needs and perference and start to source for potential units to meet his criteria.

Wish me luck