The Straits Times / The Business Times News on Cosco

Cosco Group Directors up stakes

A DIRECTOR of Cosco Shipyard Group is sitting on a $205,200 paper profit after exercising 400,000 share options in the parent company, Cosco Corp.

Mr Zhou Xie Dong exercised the options at the strike price of 80.7 cents a share. Shares of Cosco Corp, a shipyard and bulk shipping group, closed at $1.32 yesterday, down two cents, or 1.5 per cent for the day.

Meanwhile, a Cosco Corp director, Dr Wang Kai Yuen, was deemed to have increased his stake in the company to 1.9 million shares after his wife, Madam Mina Chan Sze Ming, bought 300,000 shares on Tuesday.

Cosco Corp shares have risen faster than the benchmark Straits Times Index over the past 12 months, gaining 61 per cent against the index's 16.2 per cent.

Several directors and management figures of the firm have been cashing in on the strong run-up in the shipyard-and-shipping group's share price.

The company last week reported that sales for the first three months of the year rose 63 per cent to hit a record high, while profits rose 46 per cent.

In a report earlier this month, Kim Eng Securities analyst Rohan Suppiah said he expected the group to benefit from its relationship with SembCorp Marine.

'While Cosco says it is currently unprepared to undertake turnkey rig projects on its own at this juncture, it is clearly benefiting from its relationship with SembCorp Marine and is scaling up the learning curve.'