Aerospace and defence conglomerate Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) said its electronics arm won $435 million worth of contracts in the last three months of last year.

The contracts for Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) are in areas such as rail electronics and broadband communications, the firm said yesterday.

Customers from Singapore, China and Hong Kong were among those who awarded ST Electronics contracts worth about $91 million in rail electronics and intelligent transportation.

They include projects on passenger information and automatic fare collection systems with work due to be completed by the end of 2020.

The firm also won satellite communications contracts worth about $107 million, which include supplying satellite network equipment and earth stations.

Government agencies and commercial firms in Singapore also awarded the firm contracts in advanced electronics and information communications technologies, worth about $237 million.

ST Electronics president Lee Fook Sun said the firm had a year full of "exciting milestones".

The firm launched Singapore's first commercial earth observation satellite on Dec 16.

The satellite, which was developed and built by ST Electronics, was released from a rocket launched by India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Mr Lee said "its excellent in-orbit performance has given our team of highly dedicated engineers every confidence to forge ahead to build even more advanced satellites".

Work on a fifth building at the ST Electronics cluster at Ang Mo Kio Electronics Park Road also began in the last three months of last year, with completion expected early next year.

Mr Lee said: "This new facility will provide the space and opportunities for our engineers and IT professionals to work closely together, to solve problems, interact and innovate in the areas of Smart Nation solutions, software development and large-scale systems solutions."