Eigentlich halte ich das Wasserthema für interessant.
Nachdem ich ausgestiegen bin, suche ich regelmäßig Signale für einen Wiedereinstieg, finde aber keine. Aktuell heißt es in
ir.asiaone.com/hyflux/news/20060221_001.html
Honeymoon over for Hyflux
By Wong Wei Kong - 21 February 2006
The Business Times
CONFIDENCE in water treatment specialist Hyflux is seeping out of the cracks, and it is looking more and more these days like a stock that cannot be relied on.
Investors dumped the former market favourite and sent the shares tumbling 4.2 per cent last Thursday - the same day Hyflux announced its full-year results - and another 4.7 per cent on Friday. The stock finished 0.4 per cent lower yesterday at $2.82. Hyflux had posted a 77 per cent jump in 2005 net earnings to $46.3 million, which, on the surface, looks impressive enough. The results also appear to be in line with the market's consensus net profit forecast of $49.1 million. The problem, however, is that Hyflux's earnings do not pass muster under closer inspection. The strong headline figures for 2005 resulted from one-time items such as an $8.2 million gain mainly from the sale of the Hyflux building as well as a $3.77 million gain from selling its 50 per cent stake in SingSpring, a desalination plant project in Tuas. As market trackers were quick to point out, Hyflux's net profit would have been down 3 per cent if not for the exceptional gains, while core operating profit declined 18 per cent. So, where it matters, Hyflux has failed to deliver.
What is also of concern is the fact that this isn't the first time Hyflux has disappointed the market. The company's third-quarter and interim results also came in below expectations last year, and there are grounds to doubt whether Hyflux will live up to its early promise.
For a time, the market allowed itself to be impressed by Hyflux's order book. The order book has continued to grow. It doubled to $465 million in 2005 from a year before, comprising $327 million of municipal projects and $138 million of industrial ones. However, there is growing caution regarding Hyflux's ability to deliver. In Q4 2O05, municipal project delivery was slower than expected in Dubai and China, with further delays threatening to affect revenue recognition as well as recurring revenue from build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects. Several major project negotiations have also been protracted. And with the order book dominated by municipal projects, margins will be capped. At the same time, costs soared last year as the company added more employees and invested money in developing an Indian operation.
Great expectations
It's not all negative for Hyflux, to be sure, if investors are prepared to look longer-term. Hyflux has a number of BOT projects in Singapore, the Middle East and China, and these are expected to generate recurring income of more than $80 million a year when they are fully operating in one to three years' time. India could provide pleasant surprises, given that Hyflux has spent considerable resources trying to develop the market there. And at the macro level, the water treatment industry's growth potential is underscored by United Nations data showing that 785 million people in Asia alone lack dependable access to safe water.
But what's still likely to happen now is that Hyflux shares will no longer enjoy the premium they used to command when the stock was running on high expectations and a certain degree of hype. The honeymoon is over, and the onus is on Hyflux to deliver.
