STRONG orders propelled baggage handling systems specialist Inter-Roller Engineering to a net profit of $6.6 million last year, from a $0.24 million loss in 2002.

And the company has announced a final dividend of four cents a share, bringing 2003's total payout to five cents a share, up from a total of 1.2 cents per share in 2002.

The Sesdaq-listed group's turnover surged 177 per cent to $52.9 million from $19.1 million last year. Much of the increase in turnover was due to work in Singapore. Earnings per share came in at 9.06 cents, versus a loss of 0.34 cent in 2002. Net asset value per share were 44 cents, up from 38.2 cents.

CEO Yap Lem said he expects Inter-Roller to do well this year but it needs to increase revenue further. 'We'll have a problem if we don't increase the turnover. We need to process more jobs this year,' he said.

The company has a strong order book, with $184 million of jobs in hand. Of this total, $93 million was secured in January this year.

In addition, global investment in airport expansion and improvement will continue to grow, so Inter-roller anticipates increased demand from airports worldwide to upgrade baggage handling systems. It aims to increase its share in existing markets in Asia, and to expand to new markets such as Europe.

DBS Vickers analyst Janice Chua said Inter-Roller's 2003 profit is better than her forecast of $6 million, and that the dividend is generous. She expects the record order book to underpin the company's growth until 2007.

《The Business Times》