Its order intake is weighed down by a lack of major projects and unrepeated orders from the same year-ago period

[SINGAPORE] Systems integrator CSE Global posted a 20.5 per cent rise in revenue for its third quarter ended Sep 30 – but also saw its order book shrink 26.2 per cent, weighed down by a lack of major electrification projects.

The mainboard-listed company’s revenue for the quarter grew to S$257.7 million from S$213.9 million in the previous corresponding period, it revealed in an interim business update posted on the local bourse on Wednesday (Nov 19).

This was mainly due to its electrification business segment, which expanded by 39.9 per cent or S$41.8 million on the progressive recognition of revenue from two major projects in the Americas region secured last year.

Its automation business segment notched topline growth of 4.4 per cent or S$2.1 million due to higher revenue from its technology and integrated system solutions in the Americas region.

But its communications arm registered a dip of 0.2 per cent of S$0.1 million on the effects of year-on-year currency depreciation – namely the US, Australian and New Zealand dollars against their Singapore peer. Assuming constant currency effects, revenue would have been up 4.6 per cent for the quarter, said CSE Global.

For the nine months ended Sep 30, CSE Global’s revenue was up 8.7 per cent at S$698.6 million from S$642.8 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

Yet, despite the Q3 revenue growth, the group saw its order intake for that period fall by 21.7 per cent to S$146.1 million, from S$186.7 million in Q3 2024. This brought its order intake for the nine months ended Sep 30 down 9.3 per cent at S$512.8 million from S$565.4 million in the same period the year before.

Despite CSE Global’s communications segment recording for the quarter order intake growth of 24.2 per cent, or S$14.6 million, due to recent acquisitions that expanded its geographic footprint and market coverage in the US, the electrification and automation arms saw decreased intakes.

Electrification order intake fell 38.7 per cent or S$30.3 million on the absence of major projects it had secured in the corresponding quarter last year. Similarly, its automation arm received greenfield orders in the oil and gas sector in Q3 2024 that were unrepeated this year – falling 52.1 per cent or S$24.9 million.