Tat Hong Holdings, one of the world’s largest crawler crane companies, has reported a net profit of $11.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2009 (3QFY2010), compared to $3 million in the previous corresponding period (3QFY2009).

Tat Hong says the rise was boosted by a non-recurring pre-tax gain of $4.3 million from the disposal of an equity investment but weighed down by forex losses of $21.7 million.

Group revenue declined 16% from $146.1 million in 3Q to $122.8 million in 3QFY2010, mainly due to lower revenue from its Equipment Sales, General Equipment Rental and Crane Rental divisions.

While the market witnessed early signs of an economic recovery, Tat Hong says customer demand remained subdued in Australia and the region as end-users and traders maintained a conservative capital expenditure budget. As such, revenue from the group’s Equipment Sales division, which contributed 35% of the group’s total revenue, declined 12% from $48.9 million in 3Q to $43 million,.

Crane Rental revenue declined 18% to $39.9 million or 335 of total revenue in 3Q in view of reduced spending and deferment of projects in the oil and gas, resource and construction industries in Australia. In addition, completion of projects in Indonesia and Malaysia, together with poor market conditions in the Middle East led to the fall in revenue. But the lower revenue from these regions was partially offset by increased demand for the group’s cranes from the oil and gas sector in Singapore.

Revenue from the group’s General Equipment Rental division registered the sharpest decline of 39% to $17.6 million.

The Tower Crane Rental division continued to be the group’s fastest-growing segment with revenue increasing 21% to $8.5 million.

Still, Tat Hong expects to remain profitable in FY2010.