STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-STX OSV falls to 5-month low, earnings disappoint

Shares of offshore vessel builder STX OSV Holdings Ltd

dropped as much as 8.3 percent to a five-month low after it

posted weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings.

STX said its third-quarter net profit dropped 39 percent to

228 million Norwegian crowns ($39.6 million), hurt by a fall in

sales.

OCBC Investment Research cut its target price for STX to

S$1.69 from S$2.00 but kept its 'buy' rating. It said STX's poor

performance was mainly due to slower pace of revenue recognition

during the end of the shipbuilding phase.

The brokerage noted that STX's order intake slowed down with

only two new vessel contracts secured in the third quarter,

insufficient to replenish its orderbook.

"The group reported generally stable operations, but the

slowdown in new orders may lead to under-utilization in the

Norwegian yards in 2013," OCBC said.

1006 (0206 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; Editing by Anand Basu;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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10:05 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Olam shares jump 4.8 pct after

Q1 results

Shares of commodity trader Olam International Ltd

jumped as much as 4.8 percent, recovering from Wednesday's

losses, after it reported a 26 percent rise in its quarterly

profit.

By 0133 GMT, Olam shares were up 4 percent at S$1.83, after

falling 4.4 percent on Wednesday. Olam has lost 14 percent since

the start of the year, compared to the Straits Times Index's

11.6 percent rise.

Olam shares had fallen 7.9 percent since its competitor

Noble reported disappointing third-quarter earnings earlier this

month, fuelling concerns about a tough business environment for

commodity traders.

"Olam's results were pretty good, lifting concerns about the

company after Noble posted poor results," said a local trader.

Olam said its first-quarter net profit rose 26 percent to

S$43.2 million from a year earlier, which Citigroup said was

boosted by strong volume growth in its food staples or packaged

food segment. The brokerage tipped 2013 to be a year of recovery

for the company.

However, CIMB Research downgraded Olam to 'neutral' from

'outperform' and cut its target price to S$2.08 from S$2.61,

citing potentially weak margins, negative cash flows and higher

gearing.

CIMB cut its 2013-2015 earnings per share estimates for Olam

to reflect margin pressure from new acquisitions.

The brokerage was surprised at Olam's aggressive S$1.7

billion capital expenditure budget for 2013 and the first half

of 2014, which it said would result in negative free cash flow

over the next two years.

0933 (0133 GMT)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-news-singapore-stx-osv-falls-5-month-021508855--sector.html

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