Asia Enterprises    Last:0.129    +0.002

A gem in the sea waiting to be discovered

Asia Enterprises Holding Ltd (ASEH SP S$0.345)

Reported 4Q10 net profit of S$2.8m (+36% yoy) despite lower gross margin, as lower operating expenses lifted its bottom line. Turnover for the quarter rose +19% yoy to S$34.2m, as demand for steel products from customers in the offshore and marine (O& M) sector picked up in tandem with their project requirements. Gross margin fell 3.9% pts yoy (-1.6% qoq) to 12.5% in 4Q10 due to higher weighted average cost of inventory. Operating expenses fell 34% yoy to S$1.3m due to lesser requirement to provide freight and handling services for customers’ orders and reversal of provision for staff bonuses made in the earlier quarters. Final dividend of 1.4 Scts declared representing 4% yield. Share price rose +4.5% in morning trade.

cimb/

 

 

undiscovered gem..

cash rich company trading below nav 37c..

good deal must grab..grab grab b4 the herd comes..

 

Written by The Edge, 08 Feb 2010

Asia Enterprises posts 9% rise in net profit to $8.2m

Asia Enterprises Holding, the regional distributor of steel products
to industrial end-users, today reported a 9% increase in net profit to
$8.2 million for the 12 months ended 31 December 2009 (FY2009), on the
back of an improved performance in the second half of the year.

Group revenue however declined 18% to $145.6 million in FY2009 due to the
impact of the global economic recession on industrial activity in the region,
and substantial fall in average selling prices of steel products compared to
FY2008.

While sales to offshore and marine sector customers contributed a dominant
64% share of group revenue in FY2009, revenue was down 19% to $93.2 million
mainly due to the effect of lower average selling prices, when compared to
FY2008.

Revenue from customers in the construction industry rose 34% to $15.7 million
in FY2009 to account for 11% of group revenue. Sales to the engineering/
fabrication, stockists and traders, manufacturing, precision metal stamping
and other industries made up the remaining 25%.

As a result, the group has extended its track record of net profits to 37
consecutive years despite experiencing one of the most challenging years in the
history of the global steel industry.

The group plans to pay a dividend of 1.2 cents per share, or 40% of its earnings
per share of 3 cents, in FY2009. This is similar to the payout ratio of 40% for
each of its last four financial years. The proposed dividend translates into a
yield of 5.3%, based on the closing price of 22.5 cents for Asia Enterprises
shares on Feb 5 2010.

 

Continued strong demand from the marine and oil & gas sectors helped 2 of Asia's biggest steel suppliers grow faster in the quarter ended March 31. Asia Enterprises & HupSteel.

Asia Enterprises saw revenue jump 35% to $54.6 million in its first quarter, thanks to a higher average selling prices and higher sales volume from a year ago. Net profit increased 17% to $5.2 million.

 

Steel price is expected to remain firm and galloping northward as raw material prices are expected to soar further. Increase in coal and iron ore prices and shipping rates will lend support to the increase in steel prices. Talks of potential BHP ? Rio Tinto merger sparked further speculation on the supply of iron ore and possible skyrocketing of prices due to the potential monopoly in iron ore.

In general, Phillip Securities remain bullish on the shipping and marine and construction sectors for the next 3-4 years down the road. This will benefit stockists like AEH. They maintain their buy call on this counter as a long-term investment portfolio. However, in view of the weak market conditions, they had lowered their PE to 8.5x instead. Based on 8.5x PE of revised FY07 estimates, they have valued this asset pedigree at its fair value of $0.61.

 

Good entry point?????

 

It rose to a record high of $0.605 after DBS Vickers initiated coverage of the firm at "buy" with a 12-month target price of $0.71.

"AEH is a good proxy to ride on the booming demand for steel products, which is coming in strongly from the shipbuilding and construction sectors," DBS Vickers said in a note on Thursday.

The company, which has stock market value of US$98.6 million, will also benefit from China's policies against steel product exports, DBS Vickers said. China had raised taxes on the export of many steel products from Jun 1.

 

Another one of my long term stock taking off. I enter ard 40 cents which is late by my standard. I should have loaded it up when it is sub 20 cents but I guess it is better later than never :)

 

Impressive climb today!!!!

cheong arrrrrrrrrrr....................

 

 

wouldnt enter at this moment.. still consolidating n also risky to enter, till other times may be a wiser decision. buy stocks is not betting.. unless u buying for betting..

 

Since after achieving its 1st bagger, these counter seems to be on the runaway gap. Vested investor can look forward to TP 70 cents in the near future.

 

1st BAGGER at 54 cents since its IPO at 27 cents. Nice return for long term investors.

 

Target price of 58cts for me by next week

 

Union Steel the next gem !

 

Impressive climb today. Cheers!!!

 

Is AsiaEntH and Union Steel in the same business ?

 

This is one gem to take note

 

Impressive climb this week, any news?????

 

Target S$0.7 by some analysis report ! Moving up now.

 

Generally low volume stock... not liquid at all.