Daily news - 22 Dec

ST Engineering wins £35m ammunition contract
Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engg) has won another contract from the UK Ministry of Defence. The deal of about £35 million (S$77.2 million) is for the supply of 40mm ammunition. The contract was signed with a unit of ST Kinetics, the land systems arm of ST Engg. Delivery is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2009, and end in the first half of 2011. The order includes both 40mm High Velocity High Explosive Dual Purpose (HV HEDP) and High Velocity Flash & Bang (HV F&B) rounds. ST Kinetics has been supplying the UK ministry 40mm munitions since 2002. ST Kinetics president See Chee Jhuen said the repeat order for the HV HEDP munitions affirms the growing confidence in its family of 40mm munitions. This contract is not expected to have any significant effect on the net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of the ST Engg group for the current financial year. News of the deal comes a day after ST Kinetics announced a £150 million contract from the UK ministry for the supply of Bronco all-terrain tracked carriers.

F&N not selling print and publishing business
Fraser & Neave's board has decided not to sell its print and publishing business - once valued at around US$400 million - due to adverse market conditions and the difficulty potential buyers have in securing funding. Instead, F&N plans to increase Times Publishing's sales in key markets and eliminate under-performing businesses in a bid to raise its contribution to the group results.

Olam pays US$76.4m for repurchase of bonds
Olam International has paid US$76.44 million to repurchase and cancel a portion of its convertible bonds due in 2013. The bonds had a principal value of US$117.6 million.

Source: Kim Eng