A fellow investor friend, Wan, pointed out an article in Kevin Scully’s blog on Hock Lian Seng’s order book and the potential for the order book to grow. A very big thanks to him for pointing out this article. The order book of HLS has been a concern for me ever since the release of FY 2010 results. The order book of HLS has been decreasing from around $460 million when I first researched into HLS to around $350 million as of Dec 31st 2010. So far, HLS has not won any contracts for the Downtown Line 3 construction and the order book has obviously decreased, partly due to this. In the article, it said that HLS is bidding for two MRT projects. They are for the Downtown 3 line (3 or 4 out of a total of 8 contracts) and Tuas extension (3 or 4 projects each worth $300 million). I have not confirmed this by counter-checking with LTA or HLS. I will keep a keen lookout for the next few quarters’ results to see how has the order book increased. I’m sure HLS will win a couple of contracts given they have a good track record with past projects. I will also have my eye on the profit margins of the contracts that may be won. For those interested to know what are the current tenders up for bidding, check out LTA’s website.
SudhanP.com 