WAH SEONG ... July 09

WAH SEONG LOOKING FOR O&G ACQUISITIONS IN 2H-CY2009 TO BOOST OPERATIONS

WAH SEONG CORPORATION is scouting for possible acquisitions in 2H-CY2009 to beef up its O&G operations and to make further inroads overseas.

WSC MD & Group CEO - CHAN CHEU LEONG said on Jun 19, 2009 that these measures were necessary to strengthen its global presence for O&G and industrial services operations.

ORDER BOOK AT RM1.36 BIL
WSC's current Order Book was RM1.36 bil, of which 76% was from the O&G division. It was bidding for both local and overseas O&G projects, including major pipe coating projects in the Australasia region, he said after the Company AGM on Jun 18, 2009.

GAS COMPRESSOR OPERATIONS
On WSC's gas compressor operations, CHAN said the business is on track for growth following high demand for natural gas from the market as it is an environmentally friendly source of energy. " .... Although our core O&G activity is pipe-coating, the gas compressor operation provides recurring cash flow to the Group, and is a resilient business with strong fundamentals .... As such, we plan to further grow the rental side of the gas compressor business and in fact, we have invested more than RM150m in building up our rental fleet over the past few years ...." he added.

The Company was tendering for gas compressors rental contracts in the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Currently the division has 74,000 HP in its fleet with a utilisation rate of 85% and the Company's long term plan is to increase its rental fleet HP by between 10% and 15% each year.

R&D TO IMPROVE PIPE COATING OPS
On investments in O&G, CHAN said the Company would focus on research and development (R&D) to strengthen its pipe coating operations. This included recent investments in specialised concrete-coating process technology in Europe , introduction of new products and solutions for deepwater coating and other new variants of anti-corrosion coatings.

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES OPS
On the Industrial Services Division (ISD), CHAN said the Company would benefit from infrastructure and other stimulus projects in Malaysia and abroad.

On the division's spiral steel pipe manufacturing business, he said there were plans to penetrate the huge Australian water pipes market by the first half of 2010. Now, WSC was only supplying piling pipes.

" .... The Company's pipe manufacturing operations is also set to benefit on the home front and in Singapore as there is currently about RM400m worth of piling pipes that will be tendered out in the next six months ...." said CHAN.

CHAN added that the Company's plant in Seberang Prai, Penang recently had another production line which would enable it to manufacture 100,000 tonnes of pipes per annum, from 60,000 tonnes currently.

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