Sembcorp utilities Singapore earnings plunged 19%

No thanks to maintenance shutdown.

According to DBS, for Utilities, S’pore earnings fell 19% y-o-y due to lower volumes sold as a result of maintenance shutdown and lower gas sales. 

Nevertheless, net margins of 5.1% beat our 4.7% forecast. UK margin (1Q13: 5.4% vs 3.5% last year) also rebounded as operations normalised after an extended outage last year. Elsewhere, China was slightly ahead while Rest of Asia & MENA was below. 

Here's more from DBS:

SCI’s PATMI of S$176.9m (flat y-o-y,-14% q-o-q) met expectations despite weaker than expected contributions from Marine and Urban Development.

Utilities surprised on the upside with net profit of S$89m (-10% y-o-y, +10% q-o-q), above our forecast of S$81m, despite weaker than expected sales of S$1258m (-12% y-o-y, -10% q-o-q). Non-Marine earnings accounted for 59% of group PATMI.