LHT Holdings

[dydx]

Yesterday I drove past a delivery lorry owned by Lam Soon Singapore and saw quite a few "LHT"-brand wooden pallets (painted in green colour on the sides) properly stacked in it. So conceiveably, Lam Soon Singapore Group is a customer of LHT.

[RBM]

I note that earlier this evening LHT made a disclosure to the SGX regarding a further upgrade in the value of their Sungei Kadut investment property ..........

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...90034B3F4/$file/LHT-Holdings-44-Sg-Kadut-St-1-Valuation-final.pdf?openelement

While only a ~ S$ 450,000 increase, I hope this helps nudge FY NPAT over the S$ 5 Million mark. I'm hopeful that this little company's forthcoming annual results will demonstrate that it has further increased its safety margin.

Vested

[dydx]

While only a ~ S$ 450,000 increase, I hope this helps nudge FY NPAT over the S$ 5 Million mark. I'm hopeful that this little company's forthcoming annual results will demonstrate that it has further increased its safety margin.

A NPAT of $5.0m in FY12 will translate into an EPS of $0.023 (based on the latest 212.98m issued shares) and raise 31Dec12 NAV/share to approx. $0.198. Against the last done share price of $0.135, the margin-of-safety is apparent. Hopefully LHT would reward shareholders with another higher Final dividend (FY11: 0.005/share).

[RBM]

LHT Holdings reported out their FY 2012 results yesterday evening. Personally speaking, I believe the results are disappointing, viz. revenues down, costs substantially up. Comparing with the 1H results, it seems that LHT had quite a tough second half.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...E003EB7BF/$file/LHT-Holdings-Ltd-31Dec12-Full-Year-Results_Final.pdf?openelement

My personal take, in the form of three positives and three negatives:

+ve: LHT were able to maintain their gross profit margin at ~ 26%.

+ve: NAV up ~ 5% to S$ 19 cents; LHT shares currently trade at a ~ 30% discount to NAV.

+ve (I suppose it is a positive): Despite the disappointing financial result (IMHO), LHT has maintained a S$ 0.5 (i.e. point five) cents dividend, i.e. same as last year.

-ve: Revenues down ~ 6% as compared to FY 2011. All divisions were seemingly under the cosh. It looks like it was the relatively small Timber Related Products division, which was the single biggest culprit, i.e. it saw – please pardon the pun - a ~ 63% (or ~ S$ 1 Million) revenue reduction, resulting from lesser market demand. The revenue decrease in the key Pallets & Packaging business was ~ 2% or ~ S$ 0.75 Million, and the Technical Wood Products division had a revenue decrease of ~ 31% or ~ S$ 0.5 Million, mainly from reduced overseas demand.

-ve: Administrative Expenses increased by > 26% (more than twenty-six per cent). A significant proportion of this came from higher salaries, some from depreciation. I also note that receivables and inventories moved in the wrong direction. As did leasing costs. Not a good story at all – despite LHT’s Management stating in Section 10 of the Financial Results Statement QUOTE …………… the Group will keep continuing to improve its productivity and cost control measures to enhance its competitiveness UNQUOTE, the whole cost and expenses piece of LHT’s FY 2012 Results Statement makes me wonder about managements’ cost control discipline and their automation push etc.

-ve: FY 2012 Net Profit was a disappointing S$ 3.28 Million, short of my admitedly personal expectation by quite some margin (S$ 5 Million being “excellent”, S$ 4 Million being “good”).

I also note the Results Statement was totally (and ominously??) silent regarding the start-up of wood chip deliveries to the Tuas power plant. The previously announced window for the first such delivery comes to an end in four (4) months time. I hope we hear a positive announcement soon – a question for the AGM perhaps??

At the currently traded price of S$ 0.133, LHT shares are trading on a P/E of ~ 8.7 with a dividend yield of ~ 3.7%. Being vested, and given the challenging outlook described in Section 10 of LHT's FY 2012 Financial Statement, I am wondering if Mr Market’s current valuation of LHT is now a tad rich? That said, it is I suppose good to see LHT eeking out a profit in the face of generally challenging trading conditions - as I have said before, IMHO the margin of safety on this counter has increased in the last couple of years.

Vested

[paullow]

LHT Holdings reported out their FY 2012 results yesterday evening. Personally speaking, I believe the results are disappointing, viz. revenues down, costs substantially up. Comparing with the 1H results, it seems that LHT had quite a tough second half.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...E003EB7BF/$file/LHT-Holdings-Ltd-31Dec12-Full-Year-Results_Final.pdf?openelement

My personal take, in the form of three positives and three negatives:

+ve: LHT were able to maintain their gross profit margin at ~ 26%.

+ve: NAV up ~ 5% to S$ 19 cents; LHT shares currently trade at a ~ 30% discount to NAV.

+ve (I suppose it is a positive): Despite the disappointing financial result (IMHO), LHT has maintained a S$ 5 cents dividend, i.e. same as last year.

hi RBM, i beg ur pardon, u mean 0.5 cents?


-ve: Revenues down ~ 6% as compared to FY 2011. All divisions were seemingly under the cosh. It looks like it was the relatively small Timber Related Products division, which was the single biggest culprit, i.e. it saw – please pardon the pun - a ~ 63% (or ~ S$ 1 Million) revenue reduction, resulting from lesser market demand. The revenue decrease in the key Pallets & Packaging business was ~ 2% or ~ S$ 0.75 Million, and the Technical Wood Products division had a revenue decrease of ~ 31% or ~ S$ 0.5 Million, mainly from reduced overseas demand.

-ve: Administrative Expenses increased by > 26% (more than twenty-six per cent). A significant proportion of this came from higher salaries, some from depreciation. I also note that receivables and inventories moved in the wrong direction. As did leasing costs. Not a good story at all – despite LHT’s Management stating in Section 10 of the Financial Results Statement QUOTE …………… the Group will keep continuing to improve its productivity and cost control measures to enhance its competitiveness UNQUOTE, the whole cost and expenses piece of LHT’s FY 2012 Results Statement makes me wonder about managements’ cost control discipline and their automation push etc.

-ve: FY 2012 Net Profit was a disappointing S$ 3.28 Million, short of my admitedly personal expectation by quite some margin (S$ 5 Million being “excellent”, S$ 4 Million being “good”).

I also note the Results Statement was totally (and ominously??) silent regarding the start-up of wood chip deliveries to the Tuas power plant. The previously announced window for the first such delivery comes to an end in four (4) months time. I hope we hear a positive announcement soon – a question for the AGM perhaps??

At the currently traded price of S$ 0.133, LHT shares are trading on a P/E of ~ 8.7 with a dividend yield of ~ 3.7%. Being vested, and given the challenging outlook described in Section 10 of LHT's FY 2012 Financial Statement, I am wondering if Mr Market’s current valuation of LHT is now a tad rich? That said, it is I suppose good to see LHT eeking out a profit in the face of generally challenging trading conditions - as I have said before, IMHO the margin of safety on this counter has increased in the last couple of years.

Vested

[RBM]

Yup .............. my apologies ............. forgot the decimal point ...... for the avoidance of doubt ............ LHT's first and final dividend was point five cents. I will correct my earlier posting.

And for what it is worth and in the cause of transparency ............ Mr. Market seems to disagree with my assessment (I'm assuming he read the results statement) on the basis of trading so far today on the SGX - the counter is up > 4.5% in reasonable volume - by LHT standards - trading. I wonder if a certain lady LHT Director is in the market buying?

Vested

LHT Holdings reported out their FY 2012 results yesterday evening. Personally speaking, I believe the results are disappointing, viz. revenues down, costs substantially up. Comparing with the 1H results, it seems that LHT had quite a tough second half.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...E003EB7BF/$file/LHT-Holdings-Ltd-31Dec12-Full-Year-Results_Final.pdf?openelement

My personal take, in the form of three positives and three negatives:

+ve: LHT were able to maintain their gross profit margin at ~ 26%.

+ve: NAV up ~ 5% to S$ 19 cents; LHT shares currently trade at a ~ 30% discount to NAV.

+ve (I suppose it is a positive): Despite the disappointing financial result (IMHO), LHT has maintained a S$ 5 cents dividend, i.e. same as last year.

hi RBM, i beg ur pardon, u mean 0.5 cents?


-ve: Revenues down ~ 6% as compared to FY 2011. All divisions were seemingly under the cosh. It looks like it was the relatively small Timber Related Products division, which was the single biggest culprit, i.e. it saw – please pardon the pun - a ~ 63% (or ~ S$ 1 Million) revenue reduction, resulting from lesser market demand. The revenue decrease in the key Pallets & Packaging business was ~ 2% or ~ S$ 0.75 Million, and the Technical Wood Products division had a revenue decrease of ~ 31% or ~ S$ 0.5 Million, mainly from reduced overseas demand.

-ve: Administrative Expenses increased by > 26% (more than twenty-six per cent). A significant proportion of this came from higher salaries, some from depreciation. I also note that receivables and inventories moved in the wrong direction. As did leasing costs. Not a good story at all – despite LHT’s Management stating in Section 10 of the Financial Results Statement QUOTE …………… the Group will keep continuing to improve its productivity and cost control measures to enhance its competitiveness UNQUOTE, the whole cost and expenses piece of LHT’s FY 2012 Results Statement makes me wonder about managements’ cost control discipline and their automation push etc.

-ve: FY 2012 Net Profit was a disappointing S$ 3.28 Million, short of my admitedly personal expectation by quite some margin (S$ 5 Million being “excellent”, S$ 4 Million being “good”).

I also note the Results Statement was totally (and ominously??) silent regarding the start-up of wood chip deliveries to the Tuas power plant. The previously announced window for the first such delivery comes to an end in four (4) months time. I hope we hear a positive announcement soon – a question for the AGM perhaps??

At the currently traded price of S$ 0.133, LHT shares are trading on a P/E of ~ 8.7 with a dividend yield of ~ 3.7%. Being vested, and given the challenging outlook described in Section 10 of LHT's FY 2012 Financial Statement, I am wondering if Mr Market’s current valuation of LHT is now a tad rich? That said, it is I suppose good to see LHT eeking out a profit in the face of generally challenging trading conditions - as I have said before, IMHO the margin of safety on this counter has increased in the last couple of years.

Vested

[RBM]

I see that yesterday LHT Executive Director Yap Mui Kee has bought a further 84,000 LHT shares at S$ 0.143 per share. It is pleasing to see ED Yap buying LHT shares again - this is the first time in over 6 months that she has done so - the last time was on 4th September 2012 when both she and CEO Neo each purchased 1 Million LHT shares.

ED Yap's shareholding now stands a tad over 12% and I believe that S$ 0.143 is the highest ED Yap, or any LHT Director for that matter, has ever paid for LHT shares. Hats-off to ED Yap for continuing to show such commitment to her company.

I wonder if we are going to see LHT deliveries of wood chips to a certain Tuas Power facility anytime soon?

Vested

[RBM]

Some interesting trading in shares of LHT Holdings took place after 3.30 pm in today's session.

First off LHT Executive Director Yap Mui Kee bought a further 98,000 shares - 28,000 shares at S$ 0.15, and 70,000 shares at S$ 0.149. She now holds just under 12.1% of LHT's shares. S$ 0.15 is the highest ED Yap or any LHT Director has paid for a disclosed LHT share purchase to-date.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...700452630/$file/FORM1_V4_9_1_YMK_9Apr2013.pdf?openelement

Then ........ about 20 minutes after ED Yap dipped into the market, there was a single "married trade" of 2,167,000 LHT shares at a price of S$ 0.155 - this volume of shares corresponds to just over 1% of LHT's market cap. It looks like these shares were not purchased by ED Yap - the disclosure regarding her purchases only referred to the 98,000 shares mentioned in the above paragraph.

All good for those holding LHT shares.

Vested

[RBM]

Interestingly LHT Executive Chairman Neo Koon Boo includes the following two sentences in his statement in LHT’s just published Annual Report 2012:

1. The contract with TP Utilities Pte Ltd to supply wood chips for a term of fifteen years is expected to kick off in July 2013.

2. In addition, the Group’s investment to establish an Eco-Products plant in the Eco-Industrial Park in Tianjin, China, to manufacture and assemble eco wood products is also expected to start in the second half of the year.

I realise the initiation of the wood chips supply to TP Utilities is later than previously disclosed by LHT (one month later than the back-end of the previously advised window). But with these two key growth initiatives looking like they are going to pass some key milestones in the remainder of 2013 and with its margin of safety clearly enhanced, is it right that LHT currently trades at a ~ 26 % discount to its NAV of S$ 0.19/share?? On the basis of its FY 2012 Net Income of S$ cents 1.54/share (delivered in a challenging year), LHT is currently trading on a P/E of ~ 9. Personally speaking, I see more upside to LHT's current share price than downside. LHT Executive Director Yap seems to think so as well, going by her recent share price purchases at the S$ 0.149 and S$ 0.150 level.

I am still wading through the Annual Report. Debt has gone up a tad, now just under 20%. It will be interesting to see how LHT goes about funding its Tianjin investment. Average receivables age still seems to be a bit of an issue - may be I'm missing something.

Vested

[RBM]

I see that LHT Executive Director Yap Mui Kee bought a further 77,000 LHT shares at a price of S$ 0.145 during today's trading session. She now holds just over 12.1% of LHT's shares.

ED Yap has paid more than this on a previous occasion - S$ 0.15 is the highest ED Yap or any LHT Director has so far paid for a disclosed LHT share purchase to-date.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...900412348/$file/FORM1_V4_9_1_YMK_26Apr2013.pdf?openelement

With reference to the remark I made in Post # 78 on this VB LHT thread, dated 8th April 2013, I understand that the single "married trade" of 2,167,000 LHT shares at a price of S$ 0.155 marks the complete exit of founding LHT shareholder Lee Jim Boon. It looks like ED Yap or any other LHT Director did NOT purchase this final tranche of Mr. Lee's shares.

Vested