BT's Featured Company >>> Hock Seng Lee Bhd

Hock Seng Lee Berhad (6238 HSL) is a fully integrated marine engineering, civil engineering and building construction firm specialising in mass land reclamation and dredging. HSL has transformed vast acres of uninhabitable swampland into modern housing and industrial estates, tourist resorts, commercial centres, international seaports and highways.
The features of its business are its in-house capacity to handle the entire construction process and its ownership of one of Malaysia's most comprehensive and advanced dredging fleets. HSL is the only Sarawakian company listed on the construction counter of Bursa Malaysia's main board.

HSL presently owns one of the most extensive fleets of specialised marine equipment in Malaysia and is involved in mass reclamation projects which are among the largest ever undertaken world wide.

Today, HSL some over 700 full time staff, thirty per cent of whom hold tertiary or technical qualifications. Its headquarters in Kuching boasts an electronic office environment with an advanced computer network, fully computerised accounting and a wide range of customised computer software to support tendering, job costing and project management.

HSL posts strong first half
Declares 5 percent interim dividend
KUCHING  Second quarter 2009 earnings for Sarawak-based infrastructure specialist Hock Seng Lee Berhad (HSL) rose 26 percent against 2008's corresponding quarter. YB Senator Dato’ Haji Idris Buang, Chairman of HSL, said that the Group had enjoyed a strong first half year due to a bumper procurement year in 2008 and the ongoing flow of projects to East Malaysia under the latest government initiatives.

For the six months to 30 June 2009, HSL's net profit before tax increased some 16 percent compared with the same period of 2008; rising from RM26.77 million to RM31.10 million.
On a quarter to quarter basis, earnings before tax grew from RM13.56 million for Q2 2008 to RM17.11 million for the current Q2 2009.
Revenue for the first half of 2009 also saw strong growth, up 13 percent to RM159.98 million from RM142.10 million in 2008.
“With RM1.3 billion outstanding in our order book and with the flow of projects from SCORE (Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy) and the federal government stimulus packages, we foresee ongoing success,” said Dato’ Idris.
“Our policy is to share such success with our loyal shareholders and thus, once operational needs are taken care of, we will continue to declare attractive dividends”, Dato’ Idris added.
Dato’ Idris announced that the Board had decided on a first interim ordinary dividend of 5 percent per share less tax at 25 percent and payable to shareholders on 9 October 2009. The dividend entitlement date shall be 16 September 2009.
“Rewarding our loyal investors is part of our company ethos and the reason why we have so many long term institutional stakeholders who relish participating in our growth story,” said Dato’ Idris.
HSL Group maintained zero gearing and strong cash reserves at the half year mark.
HSL has been honoured to receive the KPMG/EDGE award for Shareholder Value in the construction category for the past several years.