ST Engineering Posts 7.5% Higher Revenue and 19.3% Higher PBT for FY2021 over FY2020

• Order book was $19.3b as at end December 2021, of which about $6.6b is expected to be delivered in 2022
• Commercial sales¹ and defence¹ sales constituted $4.8b and $2.9b respectively
• Cash and cash equivalents of $816m recorded as at end December 2021

N.B.: All currencies are in Singapore dollars

ST Engineering FY2021 Financial Statements | ST Engineering Results Presentation FY2021 | ST Engineering FY2021 Auditors' Report | Webcast

Singapore, 25 February 2022 - Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) today reported its full-year (FY) financial results ended 31 December 2021.

FY2021 versus FY2020 Performance Discussion

ST Engineering posted a 7.5% increase in Group revenue to $7.7b from $7.2b a year ago in the same period contributed by all its business segments. Group EBIT grew 13% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $673.6m from $596.4m. The Group guided in August 2021 that it expected a y-o-y reduction of $150m in government support in 2021, and the impact of the reduction would mainly manifest in the second half of 2021.  In line with this guidance, the actual y-o-y reduction in government support was $149m, with $137m of the reduction impacting 2H2021.  As guided, the combination of cost savings net of reinvestments in future growth areas and partial business recovery more than offset the reduction in government support. Excluding government support, Group EBIT for FY2021 improved 93% y-o-y, reflecting a strong underlying performance amid continuing pandemic challenges.

Group Profit before tax (PBT) grew 19% y-o-y to $637.6m from $534.4m. Group Profit attributable to shareholders (Net Profit) grew 9% y-o-y to $570.5m from $521.8m.  Net Profit growth was lower than PBT growth due to the unfavourable tax effect of lower non-taxable government grants received in 2021 compared to 2020. 

Consequent to the Group’s reorganisation² on 1 January 2021, the new reportable business segments are as follows: Commercial Aerospace (CA), Urban Solutions & Satcom (USS), and Defence & Public Security (DPS).

FY2021 versus FY2020 Segment Performance Review³

•  Commercial Aerospace: Revenue was $2.46b, up 6% y-o-y from $2.33b, notwithstanding a strong 1Q2020 prior to the impact of COVID-19 being felt. This segment registered strong y-o-y revenue growth in 2Q, 3Q and 4Q of 2021, and sequential quarterly revenue growth across 2021. Revenue growth in 2021 was contributed by Aerostructures & Systems, while Aerospace MRO continued to be impacted by the subdued aviation sector. Aviation Asset Management’s AUM increased by 30% to US$1.05b (S$1.4b) as at end December 2021 from US$813m as at end December 2020. Commercial Aerospace’s EBIT grew 125% y-o-y to $182m from $81m as a result of higher revenue and cost savings initiatives. To emerge stronger, this segment continued to invest for future growth through digitalisation programmes and setting up of new passenger-to-freighter conversion sites across its global network in San Antonio, Mobile and Shanghai.
• Urban Solutions & Satcom: Revenue grew 8% y-o-y to $1.19b from $1.10b contributed by higher Smart City project deliveries, partially offset by the impact of global semiconductor chip shortages on Smart City project and Satcom product deliveries. Its EBIT was $26m, down 18% y-o-y from $31m largely due to $8m of TransCore-related M&A transaction expenses, lower government support and the impact of semiconductor chip shortages, partially offset by contribution from higher revenue and lower operating expenses.
• Defence & Public Security: Revenue grew 8% y-o-y to $4.04b from $3.72b, with contribution from all its sub-segments of Digital Systems & Cyber, Defence Aerospace, Land Systems and Marine. EBIT was down 4% y-o-y to $466m from $484m due to lower government support of $137m, substantially offset by contribution from higher revenue and cost savings. 

“In 2021, we delivered a good set of results as all business segments registered growth despite persisting pandemic challenges. This reflects the underlying strengths of our businesses and our people. The proposed TransCore acquisition demonstrates our readiness to seize growth opportunities to emerge stronger post pandemic. We can look to the future with confidence as our order book of $19.3b is very robust.

We expect the delivery of our strong order book, our various business initiatives and further business recovery to position us well for 2022 business performance. Moreover, our focus on the effective execution of our long-term strategy and our commitment to invest across the business cycles will put us in good stead to achieve our 2026 targets as communicated on our Investor Day.”

Vincent Chong, Group President & CEO

In terms of Group revenue breakdown, Commercial Aerospace, Urban Solutions & Satcom and Defence & Public Security accounted for 32%, 15% and 53% respectively. Commercial sales¹ was $4.8b and defence sales¹ was $2.9b. The Group held $816m in cash and cash equivalents as at end December 2021.

2H2021 versus 2H2020 Performance Discussion 

In 2H2021, the Group posted revenue of $4.0b, a 13% increase from $3.6b the same period a year ago. Group EBIT was up 13% y-o-y to $319m from $282m, while Group PBT was 20% higher y-o-y at $297.8m from $248.0m, and Group Net Profit grew 4% y-o-y to $274.4m from $264.4m.  Net Profit growth was lower than PBT growth due to the unfavourable tax effect of a significant reduction of non-taxable government support in 2H2021. 

2H2021 versus 2H2020 Segment Performance Review

•  Commercial Aerospace: Revenue was 25% higher y-o-y at $1.33b, from $1.07b. Its 2H2021 EBIT improved sharply to $79m from $6m in 2H2020 from significant cost savings and partial business recovery, which more than offset the reduction in government support of $51m.
•  Urban Solutions & Satcom: Revenue grew 5% y-o-y to $663m from $630m, contributed by higher Smart City project deliveries, partially offset by impact of global semiconductor chip shortages. EBIT was $15m compared to $52m in the same period a year ago as a result of lower government support, TransCore-related M&A transaction expenses and semiconductor chip shortages. In addition to being affected by the global semiconductor chip shortages, the Satcom business continued to be impacted by the pandemic with lower demand for satcom solutions in its aviation and maritime cruise customer segments. 
• Defence & Public Security: Revenue grew 8% y-o-y to $2.05b from $1.89b, contributed from all its sub-segments of Digital Systems & Cyber, Defence Aerospace, Land Systems, and Marine. EBIT remained largely the same from a year ago at $224m. Contributions from higher revenue and cost saving initiatives were offset by lower government support of $79m.

New Contract Wins in 4Q2021 and Order Book 

In 4Q2021, the Group secured new contracts of about $3.2b, comprising $1.0b from Commercial Aerospace, $0.4b from Urban Solutions & Satcom, and $1.8b from Defence & Public Security. This brings the total new contract value⁴ for 2021 to $11.7b, compared to $8.2b⁴ in 2020 and $9.5b⁴ in 2019. 

• Commercial Aerospace clinched new contracts across a spectrum of its aviation manufacturing and MRO businesses, including passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion orders for A321P2F and A330P2F units from freight operators and lessors, multi-year airframe, engine and component maintenance contracts including cabin refresh modifications with regional airlines.
• Urban Solutions & Satcom won contracts from global customers for smart mobility, smart utilities, smart security and satcom. New wins from Urban Solutions included a contract to provide turnkey rail services comprising smart metro solutions, trains and a power supply system to the Kaohsiung MRT Red Line Extension over a seven-year period; the Group’s first rail electronics contract in Romania to provide a Passenger Information System for Bucharest Metro Line 5; and a project to deploy its award-winning Telematics Wireless T-light Galaxy Smart Street Lighting solution with AGIL IoT platform to connect more than 300,000 LED street lights across Rio de Janeiro. The Group’s Satcom business had various new contracts across key market verticals, including a contract with Eclipse Global Connectivity to deliver an integrated airborne Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance satellite communications solution for military and government aircraft.
• The business segments of the Defence & Public Security cluster secured various contracts including a sub-contract by Abu Dhabi Ship Building PJSC for the supply of design, platform equipment and technical assistance for the construction of four Falaj 3-class Offshore Patrol Vessels, a fixed-price incentive-firm contract for a second U.S. Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter, and the construction of the fifth Auxiliary Personnel Lighter-Small berthing barge for the U.S. Navy. Other contracts include the sale of the Autonomast system which is an all-in-one modular system that can transform any vessel to an unmanned vessel to the Defence Science and Technology Group of the Australian Department of Defence; international munition sales; supply of cybersecurity products and solutions, AI based mission critical systems, on-premise private cloud solutions and cloud managed services.

With these new contracts, and after adjustments of revenue delivery, ST Engineering ended the year with a robust order book of $19.3b, compared to $18.2b as at end September 2021, providing good revenue visibility for the Group. In 2022, the Group expects to deliver about $6.6b from the order book. 

Final and Total Dividend

The Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of 10.0 cents per share. Together with the interim dividend of 5.0 cents per share paid in August 2021, the total dividend for the full year will be 15.0 cents per share. This translates to a dividend yield of 4.0%, computed using the average closing share price of the last trading day of 2021 and 2020.

Dividend Policy 

On 24 February 2022, the Board approved a dividend policy to declare dividends every quarter instead of twice a year previously. For FY2022, the plan is for dividends to be paid four times a year, at 4.0 cents per share each time resulting in total dividends of 16.0 cents per share payable for FY2022 (compared to the 15.0 cents per share paid or payable for FY2021).

The dividends for FY2022 are currently scheduled to be paid in June 2022, September 2022, December 2022 and May 2023. As and when the Board declares an interim dividend for each of the first three quarters of FY2022, ST Engineering will announce the relevant record date and payment date on SGXNet. The final dividend payable in May 2023 is subject to shareholders’ approval at the ST Engineering AGM to be held in April 2023, the record date and payment date for which will be announced in conjunction with the release of the Group’s full-year financial results for FY2022.

This change from declaring dividends semi-annually to quarterly will provide shareholders with more frequent income streams. Notwithstanding the new dividend policy, ST Engineering continues to focus on and has sufficient financial capacity to seek growth pursuant to the Group’s strategy as communicated at its Investor Day in November 2021, and as it has demonstrated in the last few years.

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¹ Refers to Group’s FY2021 revenue by product and services type

² Organisation structure as of 1 January 2021: Commercial and Defence & Public Security clusters have replaced the sector-structure of Aerospace, Electronics, Land Systems and Marine.  The Commercial cluster comprises Commercial Aerospace, Urban Solutions & Satellite Communications (Satcom), and the Defence & Public Security cluster comprises Digital Systems & Cyber, Land Systems, Marine and Defence Aerospace.

³ 2020 financial information has been restated to conform with the new reporting framework (effective 1 January 2021) for comparative purposes.

⁴ The values of certain contracts have not been included in ‘contract wins’ for previous quarters due to confidentiality reasons. Such contract values are now aggregated and included under ‘Total New Contract Value’. This new approach will improve transparency while preserving confidentiality since no contract details are disclosed.