The Group attained a consolidated revenue of US$886,233,000, representing a fall of 13.5% against the revenue of US$1,023,991,000 recorded in the comparable period last year. Consolidated net profit attributable to owners of the company decreased to US$38,202,000 (1H2011: US$101,900,000), with basic earnings per share falling to US1.58 cents (1H2011: US4.22 cents). The Group declares an interim dividend of HK4 cents per share for the six months ended 30 June 2012 (1H2011: HK9 cents), representing a payout ratio of 32.5%.
Mr. Chang Yun Chung, Chairman of Singamas, said, “There have been significant changes in global trading and shipping patterns recently. In 2011, the Group commented on an unusual departure from the normal pattern of seasonality in the first half of 2011. That resulted in abnormally high and quite untypical revenues for the first six months of that year. By contrast, in 2012 there has been a return to a more traditional pattern of seasonality. The first quarter of 2012 saw relatively weak market demand for containers, similar to the situation in 2010. Demand then firmed in the second quarter. The Group’s results for the first half of 2012 are satisfactory, when viewed in the light of normal patterns of seasonality. ”