ST Engineering seals maintenance contracts worth S$260m

ST Engineering's aerospace arm has sealed over S$260m worth of new maintenance contracts in the second quarter of 2011. Ranging from three to 12 months, these contracts for the Aircraft Maintenance & Modification, Component Total Support and Engine Total Support businesses will be carried out at its facilities in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. This contracts' value excludes the recent announcement of the 20-year logistics support contract for the 12 M346 aircraft, of which the first year's contract value is estimated at about S$50m.

The new airframe contracts secured for the Aircraft Maintenance & Modification business group cover line maintenance, base maintenance, heavy maintenance, passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversion and interior refurbishment on various commer cial and military aircraft platforms.

The new component contracts signed for the Component Total Support business group include Maintenance-By-the-Hour (MBHTM), avionics and mechanical component maintenance, aerostructures and landing gear repair and overhaul.

The new engine maintenance contracts clinched for the Engine Total Support business group include on-wing maintenance, off-wing maintenance, technical management and asset management on various engines types. These contracts will be carried out at ST Aerospace's Singapore facility on a time-and-material basis.

For the three months ended June 2011, ST Aerospace redelivered 114 aircraft to various customers, for airframe related maintenance and modification work. For PTF conversions alone, it redelivered a total of four converted freighters in 2Q2011. Additionally, ST Aerospace has serviced 62 engines and 14,072 components for both commercial and military customers.

During the quarter, ST Aerospace launched its line maintenance services for TransAsia Airways' fleet of A320 aircraft at Singapore Changi International Airport.

On engine capability development, ST Aerospace broadened its range of aftermarket solutions with the set-up of its new engine leasing venture with Marubeni Corporation. ST Aerospace also became the first independent MRO company to be declared a CFM International TRUEngineTM service provider. With this declaration, any CFM56 engines overhauled by ST Aerospace are eligible for TRUEngineTM status. The TRUEngineTM programme serves as a method for identifying engines that have been maintained in accordance with CFM-issued recommendations. Additionally, ST Aerospace's engine facility in Xiamen, China received approvals from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Federal Aviation Administration and Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

In the second quarter of 2011, Overhaul & Maintenance magazi ne, in its biennial survey of heavy maintenance operations, ranked ST Aerospace as the world's largest commercial airframe provider for the fifth consecutive time. On the local home front, ST Aerospace was singled out by Frost & Sullivan as the MRO Centre of the Year, and received a number of industry awards at the Singapore Aerospace Awards.

The contracts are not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.

Source: ST Engineering