SINGAPORE - Singapore Technologies Engineering reported on Thursday (Feb 16) a 21 per cent jump in net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2016, to S$170.4 million.

Revenue for the quarter rose 2.2 per cent year on year to S$1.82 billion.

Full-year earnings though dropped 8.4 per cent to S$484.5 million from S$529 million a year ago, mainly due to a one-off charge in the third quarter for the land systems sector's road construction equipment business in China.

The group ended 2016 with S$11.6 billion of orders, of which S$3.7 billion is expected to be delivered in 2017.

"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects FY2017 revenue to be comparable, while profit before tax is expected to be higher than that of FY2016," the group said.

Directors have proposed a final dividend of 10 Singapore cents per share, bringing total dividend for FY2016 to 15 cents per share, in line with the previous year.

Comparing FY2016 against FY2015 at the business sectors, revenue for the aerospace sector was 19 per cent higher at S$2.48 billion, mainly driven by the contribution of its new subsidiary, Elbe Flugzeugwerke. Its profit before tax (PBT) was S$300.3 million compared with S$290.6 million the year before.

The electronics sector posted a 10 per cet rise in revenue to S$1.88 billion and a 9 per cent increase in PBT to S$207.8 million.

Revenue for the land systems sector was down 7 per cent year-on-year to S$1.30 billion and its PBT sank 66 per cent to S$22.2 million on the back of the one-off charge.

Weaker shipbuilding performance in Singapore and US operations resulted in lower revenue and PBT for the marine sector, with its revenue down 12 per cent to S$841 million and its PBT down 15 per cent to S$75.1 million.