Century's net profit jumped in 1Q2008

Century has just announced its results for 1Q2008 ending 31/3/2008. Its net profit increased by 64.1% q-o-q or 370% y-o-y to RM9.8 million. Turnover, which increased by 9.0% y-o-y from RM34.9 million to RM38.1 million, is however lower than the preceding quarter by 14.6%.

The drop in turnover (when compared to the preceding quarter) was attributable to the dry-docking of two floating storage units (FSUs) for 2 months (the dry-docking of the two FSUs -out of six units owned-was according to schedule). This would have resulted in a drop in its pre-tax profit by 36.2%, if not for the exceptional profit of RM5.732 million from the sale of a property.



Century (closed at RM1.77 as at May 28th) is now trading at a trailing PE of 3.3 times (based on last 4 quarters' EPS totaling 54 sen) or at a P/Book of 0.96 times (based on NTA per share of RM1.85 as at 31/3/2008). At these multiples, Century is deemed very attractive.

Century share price is moving in an uptrend line, with support at RM1.50. It has good horizontal support at RM1.60.


Chart: Century's weekly chart as at May 28th, 2008 (source: Quickcharts)

Based on attractive valuation & positive technical outlook, Century is a good stock for medium-term investment.