Jurong 1Q04 profit more than doubles

· Turnover up 91.7% to S$204.2 million in 1Q04 due to strong global demand for wireless products; also 3.3% stronger than 4Q03 despite seasonal weakness

· EPS rises 110% to 2.42 cents in 1Q04 from 1.15 cents in 1Q03

· Sees growth momentum from non-HDD businesses through 2004

Jurong Technologies Industrial Corpn. Ltd ("Jurong Technologies") announced that its net profit attributable to shareholders for the January to March first quarter ("1Q04") of the financial year ending December 31 2004 ("FY 2004") rose to S$9.6 million, a 111.0%-increase over 1Q03, on turnover of S$204.2 million, a 91.7%-rise over S$106.6 million 1Q03.

The net profit – fuelled largely by significant growth in global demand for wireless products – and turnover were the highest-ever achieved in a single quarter by the Singapore Exchange Main Board-listed electronics contract manufacturer.

The demand for new models of handsets with features such as colour LCDs, built-in cameras and GPRS capabilities, coupled with increased global market share by a major customer, fuelled the strong growth for the wireless segment. The Company also witnessed steady growth in other sectors such as flexible printed circuit ("FPC") assembly and networking equipment.

Bucking the seasonality trend, the 1Q04 turnover improved sequentially by 3.3% from S$196 million in the October-December fourth quarter ("4Q03") of FY 2003.

The Hard Disk Drive ("HDD") segment recorded moderate unit volume growth year-on-year, helped by higher demand for consumer applications.

Earnings per share ("EPS") rose by 110.4% to 2.42 cents in 1Q04 from 1.15 cents in 1Q03 while Net Asset Value backing per share rose to 24.64 cents from 19.4 cents, respectively.

Commenting on the results, Jurong Technologies' President Mr. Lee Lok Fui said: "We saw significant growth in 1Q04 due to ramp-up in production for our wireless sector on the back of strong global demand. Our profit growth was also driven by strong execution in all areas in each of our manufacturing locations, leading to better operational efficiency and higher product yield while delivering higher value products that maximizes our new advanced assembly capabilities. We have also injected more capabilities and capacity over during the recent quarters in our overseas plants and created seamless integration with our Singapore operations."

Commenting on the outlook, he said: "All indications appear to point to continued growth of the HDD market as more consumer applications for drives occur even while growth for PC applications continues to sustain.

"However, we expect the non-HDD sector to expand even faster due to the strong growth of our wireless communications sector. We also expect that the global contract manufacturing market will continue its uptrend benefiting electronic manufacturing services companies who are well positioned in the region such as Jurong Technologies," he said.

"With our enhanced capabilities, we are now capable of offering an even higher level of service to potential new customers. Jurong Technologies is therefore positioning itself to capture new opportunities particularly in the rapidly growing contract manufacturing market," he said.

The Directors expect that the full year results to be substantially better than that of last year.