Mainboard-listed Hai Leck Holdings, the integrated service provider mainly for the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical industries, says for its first quarter 2011 ended 30 September 2010, net profit was $3.3 million, up 5% over the $3.1 million it earned in the preceding corresponding period.

Turnover was $24.4 million compared to the $31.1 million a year back primarily due to lower revenue from Project services as most major projects contracted have been completed or are nearing completion.

Corresponding to the lower revenue, cost of sales went down by 43% or $7.5 million to $9.8 million from $17.4 million in the previous corresponding period.

However, operating expenses were higher overall for the period under review, increasing by 5% or $0.5 million to $10.8 million relative to $10.3 million recorded in the preceding period a year earlier. The reasons for this were higher staffing costs resulting from the move to strengthen the core team of supervisory staff for ongoing projects, as well as higher rental expenses as more dormitories were leased to house foreign labour. This increase was offset by lower depreciation charges as more equipment were completely depreciated.

Earnings per share remained constant at 1.0 cent for first quarter ended 30 September 2010.

Cheng Buck Poh, Hai Leck’s Executive Chairman, says: “We delivered a set of stable earnings to begin the fiscal year. We are confident that our comprehensive product and service portfolio, proven track record and established market position will enable us to continue to generate positive earnings over the longer term. In the short- to medium-term, we will continue to carefully manage our capital expenditure, streamline costs, rationalise operations and enhance productivity to improve our bottom line.”