Boustead Singapore reported a 64% increase in net profit for the second half of its fiscal year, ending on March 31, 2024. The company posted S$37.3 million in profit, up from S$22.7 million in the same period last year. This substantial growth was driven by higher gross profit and interest income, along with improved revenue across its geospatial, real estate solutions, and energy engineering sectors.

Revenue Growth:
Revenue for the six-month period climbed by 27% to S$399.6 million, compared to S$314.8 million in the previous year. Earnings per share jumped 64.6%, rising from 4.75 cents to 7.82 cents per share. Boustead’s board proposed a final dividend of four cents per share, bringing the total dividend for FY24 to 5.5 cents per share, compared to four cents in FY23.

Sector Performance:

Geospatial Division: Revenue grew 31% to S$107.9 million, with the division setting a new revenue record for the year.
Real Estate Solutions: Revenue rose 20% to S$199.2 million.
Energy Engineering: Revenue surged 45% to S$86.3 million.
Healthcare Division: Saw a slight decline of 2% to S$5.9 million.
Gross profit for the period increased 46% to S$121.4 million, while interest income rose 28% to S$10 million.

Full-Year Results:
For the entire FY24, Boustead’s net profit increased 42% to S$64.2 million, with revenue rising 37% to S$767.6 million. The geospatial division earned a record S$212.7 million, crossing the S$200 million mark for the first time. Gross profit margin for the year improved from 28% to 30%, while full-year interest income climbed 42% to S$18.6 million.

Challenges & Outlook:
Despite the strong results, Boustead faced challenges due to rising overhead expenses, which increased by 22% to S$133.7 million, driven by expansion efforts. The share of losses from associates and joint ventures also increased to S$11.6 million due to depreciation and interest costs.

Global economic and political uncertainties, along with ongoing conflicts, negatively impacted the company’s engineering contracts, with new orders secured totaling S$159 million—the lowest in two decades. However, the company managed to secure an additional S$36 million in contracts post-FY24, bringing its engineering order backlog to S$247 million, while the geospatial division’s deferred services backlog hit a record S$129 million.